BRAMAN 
A  Discourse, 


BV 

4260 

M5 

1845 


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Rev.  MILTON  P.  BRAMAN'S 


ELECTION    SERMON. 


184 


DISCOURSE 


DBI.ITKRED   BBPOBG 


HIS  EXCELLENCY  GEORGE  N.  BRIGGS, 

GOVERNOR, 

HIS  HONOR  JOHN  REED, 

LIEUTENANT    GOVERNOR, 

THE    HONORABLE    COUNCIL, 

AND 

THE   LEGISLATURE    OF   MASSACHUSETTS, 

ow 

THE  ANNUAL  ELECTION, 

JANUARY   1,   1845. 


BY   MILTON    P.    BRAMAN, 

Pastor  of  tbe  Pint  Church  in  DaaTon. 


DUTTON   AND   WENTWORTH,  FRINTEES  TO   TBS   STATB. 


1845.  i 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 


In  Senate,  January  2,  1845. 

Ordered,  That  Messrs.  Kittredge,  Safford  and  Richards,  be  a  Committee  to  pre- 
sent the  thanks  of  the  Senate  to  the  Rev.  Milton  P.  Braman  for  the  discourse  de- 
livered by  him  before  the  Government,  on  the  1st  inst.,  and  to  request  a  copy 
thereof  for  publication. 

CHARLES  CALHOUN,  Clerk. 


DISCOURSE. 


2d  Samuel,  vii.  16. 

AND  THINE  HOUSE  AND  THY  KINGDOM  SHALL  BE  ESTABLISHED 
FOREVER  BEFORE  THEE  :  THY  THRONE  SHALL  BE  ESTABLISHED 
FOREVER, 

The  instability  of  human  affairs  is  such,  that  gov- 
ernments have  always  rested  upon  a  very  insecure 
basis.  Even  those  which  have  continued  through 
the  longest  period,  and  seem  to  be  most  firmly  es- 
tablished against  the  action  of  causes  which  threaten 
their  existence,  are  yet  not  exempt  from  dangers 
which  are  calculated  to  awaken  the  solicitude  of 
those,  who  are  interested  in  their  condition  and  fate. 
In  the  earlier  periods  of  our  race,  those  agencies 
which  disturb  the  arrangements  of  society,  and 
tend  to  produce  great  civil  commotions,  were  more 
revolutionary,  than  even  in  the  later  ages  of  the 
world.  Rulers  were  displaced,  dynasties  subverted, 
kingdoms  overturned,  and  the  boundaries  of  nations 
obliterated,  by  intestine  divisions  and  foreign  aggres- 


6 

sions,  with  a  frequency  which  has  been  considerably 
restrained  by  civilization.  The  promise,  therefore, 
made  to  Solomon,  by  him  who  had  power  to  secure 
the  event,  that  his  house  and  kingdom  should  be 
perpetually  established,  was  peculiarly  encouraging 
on  account  of  the  agitated  and  shifting  state  of 
society. 

If  a  promise  like  that  which  was  so  authoritatively 
made  to  this  favored  monarch  of  Judea,  were  an- 
nounced to  us — if  an  assurance  from  the  great  Ruler 
of  nations  were  given  to  the  members  of  this  con- 
federacy, I  do  not  say  that  the  Union  should  be  per- 
petual, but  that  our  republican  institutions  should 
stand  the  severe  experiment  which  is  now  making 
upon  their  strength,  and  descend  unimpaired  to  dis- 
tant ages,  how  many  patriotic  and  anxious  hearts 
would  be  relieved  of  the  apprehensions  which  they 
entertain  for  the  prospects  of  American  liberty. 

We  have  no  divine  assurance  to  encourage  our 
hopes — nor  has  the  progress  of  years  given  us  a 
maturity  of  experience  and  strength,  which  will 
afford  us  a  certain  protection  against  the  perils  that 
beset  us. 

But  notwithstanding  the  uncertainty  of  the  best 
conditioned  political  affairs,  and  the  existence  of 
those  threatening  tendencies  which  excite  alarm  for 


the  safety  of  our  free  institutions,  there  are  signs  of 
hope.  There  are  circumstances  in  our  condition 
which  speak  a  voice  of  encouragement,  and  may  be 
construed  into  omens  of  favor  for  the  future  history 
of  our  country. 

It  is  my  design  to  suggest  some  considerations, 
which  indicate  the  perpetuity  of  our  republican  lib- 
erty. 

1.  The  length  of  time  through  which  it  has  been 
continued,  is  an  encouragement  entitled  to  consid- 
eration. Seventy  years,  which  is  nearly  the  time 
that  has  elapsed  since  our  independent  existence, 
though  the  ordinary  term  of  human  duration,  is 
indeed  an  inconsiderable  period  for  a  national  life ; 
but  comparatively  brief  as  it  is,  it  has  carried  us  to 
a  point  not  only  beyond  the  expectations  of  enemies, 
bwt  to  which  some  of  the  most  ardent  and  sagacious 
lovers  of  our  free  system  scarce  extended  their  hopes. 
The  time  has  been  long  enough  even  in  the  least 
unfavorable  circumstances,  to  give  it  a  severe  trial. 
h  is  not  within  the  possibilities  of  human  things, 
that,  even  in  a  spot  most  advantageous  for  natural 
position — among  a  society  of  men,  the  most  intelli- 
gent and  tranquil  which  the  state  of  the  world  has 
hitherto  admitted,  a  government  like  ours,  should 
not  have  to  contend  with  much   hostile  and  formida- 


8 

ble  agency.  Every  vulnerable  point  has  been  as- 
sailed. There  is  not  a  spot  in  the  whole  system, 
where  the  jointing  wants  compactness  and  strength, 
that  has  not  been  exposed  to  the  severest  test  that 
could  try  its  capacity  of  resistance.  Our  freedom 
achieved  its  existence  in  a  strife  with  the  tremen- 
dous power  of  the  mother  country,  almost  as  un- 
equal as  would  be  the  struggles  of  a  child  for  life, 
against  the  murderous  assaults  of  full  grown  men. 
It  sustained  the  perilous  reaction  of  success,  when 
the  iron  bands  of  war  which  held  the  people 
together  in  pursuit  of  common  safety,  were  un- 
clasped, and  they  were  left  to  the  wide  divergence 
of  individual  opinions  and  peculiarities.  It  stood 
the  test  of  the  financial  embarrassment,  and  the  ex- 
haustion which  followed  the  revolutionary  conflict. 
It  went  through  the  ordeal  of  that  agitation  of  con- 
flicting opinions,  which  resulted  in  the  constitutional 
compact.  It  met  the  crisis  of  that  revolutionary  erup- 
tion in  France,  whose  agitation  reached  these  distant 
shores  and  shook  the  whole  civilized  world.  It  has 
passed,  since,  through  the  fiercest  encounter  of  op- 
posite political  opinions.  The  shock  of  parties,  and 
the  shifting  of  the  administrative  power  of  govern- 
ment from  one  political  side  to  the  other — the  ambi- 
tion of  men  that  seemed   born  to  rule — the  collision 


of  great  national  interests,  which  have  been  growing 
in  importance  every  year,  the  rapid  increase  of  popu- 
lation, the  heterogeneous  mass  that  has  constantly 
flowed  over  from  Europe,  and  mixed  up  our  republi- 
can feelings  with  an  infusion  of  foreign  sentiments 
and  prejudices,  have  left  the  great  elements  of  Ameri- 
can freedom  in  as  vigorous  an  operation,  and  notwith- 
standing the  alarms  which  are  felt,  I  think  with  as 
clear  prospects  before  her,  as  at  the  commencement 
of  her  existence. 

That  the  length  of  time  during  which  our  liberties 
have  continued,  and  the  severe  test  to  which  these 
have  been  exposed,  give  us  any  certain  assurance  of 
their  perpetuity  is  not  contended.  Though  it  seems 
hardly  probable  that  any  greater  perils  await  them, 
however  different  in  kind,  than  those  through  which 
they  have  already  passed  with  safety. 

The  apprehensions  which  many  wise  and  patriotic 
citizens  express  for  the  future  condition  of  our  re- 
publican institutions,  have  been  so  often  repeated 
and  are  so  common,  that  they  cease  to  produce  any 
high  degree  of  general  alarm. 

Miss  Martineau  informs  us  that  the  first  person 
who  greeted  her  upon  her  arrival  ten  years  ago,  in 
the   United  States,  immediately  informed  her  that 
2 


10 

she  "  had  arrived  at  an  unhappy  crisis ;  that  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  country  would  be  in  ruins  before 
her  return  to  England  ;  that  the  levelling  spirit  was 
desolating  society,  and  that  the  United  States  were 
on  the  verge  of  a  military  despotism."  It  was  per- 
haps fortunate  for  her  and  ourselves,  that  she  had 
been  accustomed  from  her  childhood  to  such  gloomy 
auguries  at  home,  or  else  her  fears  might  have  driven 
her  back,  without  having  collected  materials  for  an- 
other book,  and  we  might  have  been  deprived  of 
another  of  those  maternal  admonitions  on  propriety 
of  behavior,  with  which  our  old  affectionate  mother 
England,  endeavors  to  correct  the  childhood  of 
American  society.  Having  closely  scanned  the  Ca- 
dets at  West  Point,  and  a  military  training  on  her 
ascent  up  the  Hudson,  she  most  charitably  acquitted 
them  of  all  designs  on  the  liberties  of  the  country 
and  so  must  we.  Our  institutions  have  survived  the 
terrible  crisis,  which  existed  at  the  time  of  Miss 
Martineau's  landing  at  New  York.  The  levelling 
spirit  has  not  overturned  society.  The  Cadets  are 
as  peaceably  attending  to  their  duties  at  West  Point, 
and  the  military  musters  are  the  same  showy,  harm- 
less, holiday  pageants  as  they  were  when  scanned  by 
the  searching  glance  of  this  lady's  eye  in  eighteen 
hundred  thirty-four. 


11 

Forty  years  ago,  Mr.  Ames  wrote  his  treatise  on 
the  dangers  of  American  liberty — a  treatise  in  which 
all  the  powers  of  his  brilliant  imagination  were  called 
into  requisition,  to  portray  the  gloomy  and  threaten- 
ing aspect  of  our  political  condition.  It  was  a  fear- 
ful crisis  then  in  his  view.  The  experiment  of  re- 
publican liberty,  he  thought  had  failed  ;  the  hopes 
of  humanity  were  extinguished — and  all  was  lost. 
"  Some  bold  chieftain,"  he  declared,  "  will  conquer 
our  liberty  and  triumph  and  rejoice  in  her  name." 
"  We  are  now  drawn  within  the  revolutionary  suc- 
tion of  Niagara,  and  every  thing  that  is  liberty  will 
be  dashed  to  pieces  in  the  descent."  Upon  which 
we  may  be  permitted  to  remark,  that,  as  the  fair 
form  of  liberty  remains  yet  unbroken — if  the  illus- 
tration had  as  much  truth  as  rhetoric  at  the  time  it 
was  used,  forty  years  is  a  long  period  to  make  the 
passage  of  the  fall. 

Whilst  we  should  never  be  too  secure  of  our 
standing — whilst  a  wakeful  feeling  should  ever  burn 
like  a  vestal  fire  on  the  heart,  there  have  been  too 
many  dreadful  crises  that  have  passed  away  without 
any  dreadful  results — too  many  instances,  in  which 
the  nation  has  stood  on  the  brink  of  the  precipice 
without  falling,  to  allow  us  to  be  unmanned  at  every 
jar  in  the  machinery  of  the  republican  system. 


12 

Upon  the  first  launching  of  the  new  modelled  ves- 
sel of  state,  there  was  some  apology  for  over-excited 
apprehension,  as  she  met  the  billows  and  winds  of 
the  stormy  political  ocean.  But  after  she  has  weath- 
ered the  tempests  of  more  than  half  a  century  bet- 
ter than  any  ship  on  the  sea,  it  is  too  late  to  despair 
when  she  tosses  on  the  billows,  and  strains  and 
creaks  in  the  storm. 

2.  There  has  been  a  general  progress  of  free  prin- 
ciples in  the  civilized  world  ever  since  the  founda- 
tion of  the  republic.  We  might  retrace  the  period 
which  has  elapsed  since  the  reformation,  as  that  dur- 
ing which  have  occurred  the  most  remarkable  devel- 
opements  and  rapid  advance  of  human  freedom  in 
many  modern  countries.  For  with  temporary  and 
partial  checks,  which  in  the  end  are  destined  to  pro- 
mote the  cause  which  they  seem  to  retard,  the  prin- 
ciples which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  human  rights 
and  just  government  have  been  gathering  strength 
among  almost  all  civilized  people.  Our  national 
independence  and  constitutional  compact  were  the 
embodiment  of  the  highest  that  liberty  had  achieved 
in  her  long  and  bloody  struggle  with  the  oppressions 
of  power.  It  was  the  gathering  together  in  one 
visible,  fixed  and  glorious  result,  all  those  elements 
of  freedom  which  had  been  operating,  half  obscured 


13 

and  unappreciated,  in  the  mass  of  humanity.  But 
this  was  not  the  end  of  the  progress  even  in  this 
country.  For  if  it  were  admitted  that  nothing  could 
be  added  to  the  wisdom  and  equity  with  which  the 
plan  of  our  government  has  been  framed — if  the 
Constitution  of  the  Union  were  the  most  finished  in 
which  the  vital  spirit  of  freedom  could  act  and  ex- 
press itself  to  the  world,  there  was  room  for  a  more 
intelligent  and  deep  impression  of  its  principles  on 
the  mind  of  society.  The  results  which  had  been 
obtained  were  the  origin  of  still  further  results,  con- 
sisting in  juster  views  of  republicanism,  a  higher 
appreciation  of  its  benefits,  more  fixed  and  well  de- 
fined attachments  to  its  spirit  and  forms. 

How,  in  this  country,  could  it  be  otherv^'ise  ?  The 
whole  action  of  the  political  machine  has  been  the 
action  of  liberty  on  the  intelligence  and  heart  of  the 
nation.  In  the  general  government,  in  every  state 
government,  in  all  the  municipal  corporations,  its 
image  has  been  before  the  eye,  its  nature  discussed, 
its  lessons  taught,  its  principles  applied  to  the 
changes  and  the  ever  shifting  multiplying  relations 
of  society.  Every  wise  parent  feels  it  indispensably 
important  that  the  young  and  ductile  minds  of  his 
children  should  be  placed  under  the  influence  of 
sound  teaching,  and  trained  up  to  a  familiarity  with 


14 

those  lessons  which,  when  well  impressed,  tend  to 
secure  the  right  direction  of  subsequent  life.  Well, 
the  whole  people  has  been  sent  to  school,  in  its 
childhood,  to  listen  to  instructions  in  the  great  doc- 
trines of  human  liberty  and  right.  When  the  Con- 
stitution of  our  Union  was  laid  before  the  people  for 
acceptance,  the  young  mind  of  the  nation  was 
favored  with  discussions  and  lectures  from  the  most 
learned  and  scientific  expounders  of  its  provisions, 
while  it  was  in  that  state  of  eager  curiosity  and 
thirst  for  information,  most  advantageous  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  truths  inculcated. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States,  together  with 
the  Federal  Judicial  Court,  which  hold  their  annual 
sessions  at  Washington,  may  be  considered  as  a 
grand  national  university,  at  which  the  choicest  spir- 
its of  the  land  resort  to  engage  in  discussions  in 
regard  to  the  nature  and  operations  of  equitable  gov- 
ernment, and  to  elucidate,  expound  and  apply  the 
text-book  of  American  freedom,  the  report  of  which 
is  carried  in  their  persons,  and  wafted  on  the  wings 
of  the  press,  to  the  extremities  of  the  Union. 

There  are,  also,  what  may  be  denominated  our 
State  universities,  in  which  the  instruments  which 
embody  republican  doctrines  are  the  themes  of  dis- 
cussion in  connection  with  interests  which  have  a 


16 

more  immediate  and  personal  bearing,  than  those 
embraced  by  national  legislation. 

In  some  countries,  there  are  great  and  liberal 
minds  who  have  risen  above  the  tone  of  opinion 
which  prevails  around  them,  who  discuss  and  unfold 
theories  of  freedom,  which  cannot  be  applied  to  the 
existing  state  of  society.  There  are  parties  who 
entertain  ideas  of  republican  equality,  but  are  pre- 
vented by  insuperable  obstacles  from  making  an  ex- 
periment of  their  practical  utility,  in  the  community 
of  which  they  are  members. 

But  here  we  have  not  only  theory  but  the  actual 
test  of  theory — not  projected  schemes  but  the  ac- 
complishment of  them.  The  instructions  which  are 
given  to  the  people  by  the  chosen  teachers  of  politi- 
cal equality,  are  practical  in  the  most  rigid  sense  of 
the  term.  They  are  like  those  scientific  lectures  in 
which  theory  and  experiment  are  united  together, 
and  every  principle  is  verified  and  demonstrated  by 
a  visible  illustration. 

The  national  and  state  constitutions  are  like  so 
many  great  working  engines,  not  merely  exposed  to 
the  observation  of  the  curious — not  put  into  tempo- 
rary operation  for  inspection  as  patent  models — but 
applied  to  actual  use — working  out  the  most  satis- 
factory results — and  incontestibly  establishing  their 


16 

claims  to  public  favor  by  more  than  half  a  century's 
most  successful  trial. 

And  not  only  is  there  visible  and  experimental 
proof,  that  popular  liberty  is  a  practicable  attain- 
ment, but  the  results  of  its  operation  are  brought 
home  to  the  happy  personal  experience  of  the  whole 
people.  Cases  are  presented  in  which,  either  through 
defect  of  wisdom  in  framing  the  plan  of  government, 
or  the  unpreparedness  of  the  community  for  self  di- 
rection, or  the  combination  of  both,  that  republican- 
ism, so  denominated,  has  produced  a  less  happy  con- 
dition of  society  than  exists  under  some  monarchical 
governments.  But  the  excellent  fruits  of  our  civil 
constitution,  are  the  general  theme  of  exultation  and 
eulogy.  They  are  seen,  experienced,  rejoiced  in, 
by  every  city,  hamlet,  and  individual  member  of  the 
body  public. 

There  is  scarce  a  mind  among  all  the  millions  of 
the  Union  in  which  freedom  is  not  associated,  iden- 
tified with  every  thing  which  makes  up  its  highest 
conception  of  the  temporal  well-being  of  humanity. 
As  long  as  intelligence,  and  competence,  and  a  pros- 
perous state  of  affairs  are  valued  objects,  as  long  as 
personal  rights,  and  social  privileges,  and  domestic 
comforts  have  any  hold  on  human  affection,  so  long 
will  the  American  heart  be  bound  to  American  insti- 


17 

tutions,  with  indissoluble  attachment.  The  past 
must  be  obliterated — the  records  of  memory  erased 
— human  feelings  must  cease  to  be  human  feelings, 
and  human  desires  must  cease  to  take  delight  in  the 
objects  of  highest  human  gratification,  and  human 
nature  must  become  another  nature,  before  the  love 
of  freedom  shall  die  out  of  the  nation.  For  the  im- 
press of  its  fair  image  is  on  every  public  and  private 
enterprise — on  all  social  improvement — upon  the  ad- 
vance of  art.  And  all  the  comforts  of  wealth  and 
blessings  of  religion,  and  the  whole  stock  of  human 
happiness  bear  testimony  to  its  exalted  worth,  and 
speak  in  its  name  to  the  heart  of  the  whole  people. 

Another  cause  for  the  increased  attachment  to  free 
institutions  among  the  American  people,  is  the  long 
exercise  of  the  privileges  of  freedom  itself  to  which 
they  have  been  accustomed. 

The  republican  system  has  not  only  acted  on  the 
people,  but  they  have  acted  on  the  system,  and  have 
acted  with  it.  They  have  administered  it — they 
have  used  its  rights  and  powers  till  these  have  been 
incorporated  with  the  political  being  of  the  nation. 
They  have  exercised  free  action  till  they  know  no 
other  action,  and  can  pursue  no  other  action — I  had 
almost  said  live  with  no  other  action. 

The  sovereigns  of  monarchical   nations  have  al- 
3 


18 

ways  been  proverbially  attached  to  the  powers  and 
privileges  of  their  high  stations.  The  unyielding 
pertinacity  with  which  they  hold  every  atom  of  au- 
thority— the  tremendous  and  perilous  struggles  in 
which  they  will  engage  to  retain  their  royal  immuni- 
ties and  prerogatives,  show  how  vigorous  is  the  love 
of  power  and  self-direction  in  the  human  heart. 

Now  every  form  of  liberty  is  a  form  of  power; 
and  what  is  the  nation  but  a  sovereign,  jealous  of 
the  least  supposed  encroachment  on  its  prerogative, 
having  all  the  attachment,  which  long  use  added  to 
inborn  sentiment,  can  give  to  that  action  which  is 
free  from  all  superior  control ;  having  united  to  it 
more  than  royal  franchises,  and  grasping  its  power 
with  unyielding  persistency. 

We  are  sometimes  referred  to  the  revolutionary 
period,  as  the  golden  crisis  of  American  feeling, 
when  patriotism  was  most  patriotic  and  the  love  of 
independence  most  determined,  and  when  the  great 
national  heart  was  filled  with  the  divinest  inspira- 
tions of  liberty.  There  was  at  that  time,  particu- 
larly in  the  persons  of  the  chief  actors  in  the  scene, 
an  exhibition  of  some  of  the  most  truly  lofty  and 
heroic  traits  of  the  human  character.  But  as  noble 
spirited  as  they  were,  and  invincible  as  was  the  en- 
ergy which  impelled  them  to  such  daring  and  stu- 


19 

pendous  efforts  as  they  made  to  achieve  our  deliver- 
ance, there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  spirit  of 
liberty  is  more  deeply,  intelligently,  seated,  and  ine- 
radicable, than  in  the  hotest  crisis  of  the  revolu- 
tionary contest.  It  has  expanded  with  the  growth, 
and  has  been  invigorated  by  the  free  action  of  the 
nation.  The  impetuous  and  fiery  passions  of  its  re- 
publican youth,  have  superadded  to  them  the  depth, 
fixedness,  strength,  and  wise  experience  of  maturer 
years. 

The  continual  progress  of  free  opinions  in  the 
European  world,  deserves  a  more  extended  notice. 
The  popular  feeling  which  had  long  been  working 
more  or  less  vigorously  in  the  mass  of  transatlantic 
society,  received  a  new  impulse  by  the  successful 
organization  in  which  it  was  embodied  here,  that  has 
borne  it  onward  to  this  day.  Its  excessive  and  ir- 
regular action,  its  destructive  fury,  as  it  became 
united  with  unpropitious  elements — its  more  calm, 
equable  and  fortunate  movement,  where  it  was  more 
united  with  intellectual  and  christian  agencies,  but 
nevertheless,  its  onward  and  irresistible  sweep  under 
all  influences,  are  too  familiar  to  need  particular  re- 
petition. 

It  has  overturned  a  throne  in  France  that  rested 
on  the  loyal  prejudices  and  traditionary  reverence  of 


20 

forty  generations ;  and  notwithstanding  the  reaction 
which  followed,  gained  by  that  act  an  immense  and 
permanent  accession  to  its  power.  It  has  breasted 
cannon  and  bayonet — it  has  waded  through  seas  of 
blood.  It  has  made  progress  against  the  mighty 
resources  of  wealth  and  cunning — the  terrors  of 
superstition — against  the  opposing  machinery  of 
monarchical  and  aristocratical  society — and  at  this 
moment  tasks  all  the  resources  of  power  and  policy 
to  resist  its  course,  and  is  the  most  restless,  disturb- 
ing and  dreaded  element  of  the  old  world. 

The  history  of  England,  since,  and  before  the  set- 
tlement of  this  country,  is  a  history  of  popular  inno- 
vation. Free  opinions  are  now  pressing  against  the 
throne,  and  kindred  institutions  of  that  kingdom 
with  the  weight  of  a  continent. 

Fortunate  is  it  for  those  institutions,  that  they 
have  elasticity  enough  to  yield  to  the  pressure.  For 
there  have  been  times  within  a  recent  period,  when 
obstinate  resistance  would  have  drenched  that  nation 
in  blood,  and  exploded  the  government  to  atoms. 
On  the  continent,  the  vigorous  impulses  of  liberty 
have  been  extensively  felt  through  the  social  system. 
We  were  told  many  years  ago,  that  since  the  birth 
of  this  nation  five  or  six  constitutions  had  been 
wrested  by  the  people  from  their  irresponsible  rulers 


21 

Two  remarks  occur  on  this  part  of  the  subject  : 

1 .  It  would  seem  that  the  spirit  of  freedom,  which 
makes  its  way  against  such  powerful  obstacles  in 
Europe,  has  vigor  enough  to  live  amidst  the  compar- 
atively slight  struggles  which  it  has  to  maintain  here. 
If  the  whole  array  of  thrones,  and  principalities  and 
hierarchies,  wielding  the  vast  agencies  and  resources 
at  their  command,  cannot  brace  themselves  firm 
against  the  shock  of  this  great  social  movement, 
then  who  and  what  shall  turn  it  back  and  arrest  its 
course  in  this  republican  nation  ?  Has  that  which 
has  power  enough  to  make  its  foes  tremble  and  re- 
coil when  standing,  not  strength  sufficient  to  resist 
them  when  prostrate  ?  Has  the  torrent  which 
breaks  through  rocks  and  mountains,  not  force  suffi- 
cient to  move  in  an  unobstructed  channel  ? 

Then  must  we  say  to  all  the  struggling  aspirants 
for  freedom  in  other  countries,  make  haste  slowly — 
you  breathe  longest  when  under  the  greatest  weight 
— the  most  dangerous  pressure  is  no  pressure  at  all 
— and  independence  will  be  the  last  gasp  of  vitality. 

2.  The  popular  movements  in  the  old  world  give 
a  strong  impulse  to  the  free  spirit  of  this  nation. 

Great  Britain,  for  instance,  exists  in  such  close 
relations  with  this   land,   that  every  cord  which  is 


22 

struck  there  vibrates  through  the  heart  of  this  nation 
She  is  so  near  by  facilities  of  communication,  and 
bound  with  us  by  such  sympathies,  arising  from 
identity  of  language  and  blood,  from  numerous 
points  of  similarity  in  political  features,  that  we 
hear  every  breath  which  freedom  draws  there,  and 
feel  the  mighty  throbbings  of  her  heart,  and  receive 
the  warm  current  from  her  own  veins  into  ours,  which 
flows  to  the  extremities  of  the  body  politic.  The 
struggles  of  liberty  with  opposing  forces  attract  more 
notice,  and  awaken  more  lively  interest,  than  liberty 
in  the  repose  of  complete  triumph.  It  seems  almost 
necessary,  in  the  first  stages  of  our  great  experi- 
ment, that  our  sympathies  should  be  kept  in  ex- 
citement, our  vigilance  rendered  wakeful,  and  our 
attachment  to  freedom  quickened  into  a  state  of 
more  conscious  emotion  by  the  struggles  of  other 
nations  not  yet  politically  emancipated, — so  that  we 
might  cherish  that  unsleeping  anxiety  and  jealousy 
which  will  induce  us  to  keep  a  more  wary  eye  on 
the  perils  that  environ  our  situation. 

But  however  this  may  be,  the  spirits  of  English 
patriots  and  martyrs  to  liberty  are  embaLned  among 
us  in  history  and  song.  They  have  arisen  from 
their  ashes  and  speak  to  us  in  the  immortal  pages  of 
genius.     The  vigorous,  free  periodical   literature  of 


23 

the  English,  which  is  as  much  our  literature  as 
theirs — the  discussions  of  their  parliament,  which 
is  in  interest  to  us  almost  like  another  Congress  in 
London,  and  from  which  the  voice  of  freedom  rings 
almost  as  loud  and  clear  across  the  Atlantic  to  these 
western  shores — their  great  popular  agitations — 
their  reforms — their  high-souled  and  Christian  sacri- 
fices of  property  and  patronage  to  freedom,  must  act 
with  prodigious  power  on  the  whole  American  society, 
and  quicken  the  pulse  of  freedom  in  every  heart  in 
the  land.  Can  it  be  that  we  should  take  a  back- 
ward movement  against  such  onward  movements  ? 
that  we  should  force  a  passage  through  the  opposing 
tendency  and  influence  of  the  civilized  world  ?  that 
the  shadow  of  liberty  should  go  back  on  the  dial- 
plate  of  the  nation,  while  the  great  luminary  of 
social  advancement  is  pursuing  its  ever-brightening 
track  through  the  heavens  ? 

III.  The  social  agencies  which  modern  times  have 
brought  either  into  existence,  or  more  active  opera- 
tion, hold  out  strong  encouragements  for  the  per- 
petuity of  our  liberty.  Among  which  is  the  general 
diffusion  of  menial  cultivation.  The  people  in  this 
country  are  the  rulers.  They  form  a  congress  above 
congress.     They  are  the  supreme  court  of  appeal  to 


24 

which  all  political  questions  are  referred  for  final  ad- 
judication. They  are  called  upon  to  make  and  un- 
make constitutions  of  government — to  enact  and  ab- 
rogate laws, — to  decide  upon  vexed  questions  which 
have  tasked  the  most  powerful  intellects  for  genera- 
tions. They  must  have  knowledge,  therefore,  and 
invigorated  power  of  reflection  and  judgment.  Not- 
withstanding the  deficiencies  under  which  we  yet 
labor,  and  the  existing  mass  of  uncultivated  intellect, 
yet  the  agencies  in  operation  to  seize  upon  the 
young  mind,  and  give  it  direction,  expansion  and 
solid  strength,  are  multiplied  among  us  to  an  extent 
never  before  realized ;  and  there  is  now  a  zeal  waked 
up  in  behalf  of  popular  cultivation,  which  will,  we 
trust,  raise  them  to  more  efficient  action,  and  open 
the  fountains  of  instruction  at  every  door  in  the 
land. 

Foreigners  reproach  us  that  we  have  produced  no 
more  men  of  distinguished  genius,  and  very  few  that 
stand  in  the  highest  rank  of  literary  and  scientific 
fame.  Let  them  know  that  what  we  lack  in  con- 
centration, is  compensated  by  diffusion.  As  much 
as  we  honor  the  illustrious  poets  and  philosophers  of 
other  lands,  we  would  not  exchange  our  popular  in- 
formation for  the  brightest  names  in  their  intellectual 
sky.     We  would  not  part  with  our  common  schools'. 


26 

for  Shakspeare  and  Paradise  Lost.  We  would  not 
give  the  discipline  and  strength  which  the  young 
mind  receives  from  our  popular  arithmetics,  for  the 
glory  of  Newton's  Principia. 

Graduates  from  the  schools  are  taken  under  the 
tuition  of  the  free  political  press,  that  most  neces- 
sary and  tremendous  engine  next  to  Christianity,  when 
it  has  the  right  sort  of  intellectual  material  to  operate 
upon,  which  was  ever  wielded  for  liberty.  I  say 
when  it  has  the  proper  material  for  its  operation. 

For  to  secure  the  benefits  of  the  press  there  must 
be  a  solid  intellectual  base.  "  The  press,"  says  Mr. 
Ames  in  eighteen  hundred  and  five,  "  has  left  the 
understanding  of  men  just  where  it  found  it ;  but  by 
supplying  an  endless  stimulus  to  their  imagination 
and  passions,  it  has  rendered  their  temper  and  man- 
ners infinitely  worse.  It  renders  men  indocile  and 
presumptuous.  They  are  pervaded  by  its  heat  and 
kept  forever  restless  by  its  activity.  It  has  been  the 
base  and  venal  instrument  of  the  very  men,  whom 
it  ought  to  gibbet  to  universal  abhorrence."  Again, 
"  In  our  time  this  boasted  luminary  vents  more 
smoke  than  light."  These  statements  were  proba- 
bly exaggerated  at  the  time  ;  and  I  would  by  no 
means  apply  them  to  the  present  political  press  of 
the  United  States.     But  it  is  very  apparent,  that  in 


26 

the  unrestricted  freedom  of  the  press,  it  is  liable  to 
fall  under  the  control  of  designing,  unprincipled,  and 
incompetent  men,  who,  in  the  accomplishment  of 
their  nefarious  ends,  will  appeal  to  passion  and  pre- 
judice rather  than  to  reason,  and  by  their  advocacy 
of  error,  and  distorted  representations  of  truth,  will 
exert  the  most  deleterious  influence  upon  an  excita- 
ble and  unintellectual  community.  I  repeat  then,  to 
render  the  press  a  safe  and  useful  instrument  for 
promoting  freedom,  there  must  be  a  good  degree  of 
mental  cultivation  in  the  people,  together  indeed 
with  moral,  which  will  be  noticed  hereafter,  and  the 
power  of  exercising  a  discriminating,  independent, 
and  right  judgment  on  questions  submitted  to  their 
consideration.  If  you  could  suppose  a  people  to 
possess  the  mere  power  of  reading,  with  little  or  no 
additional  training,  the  press  might  to  a  deplorable 
extent  verify  that  high-wrought  description  in  which 
the  exuberant  imagination  of  Mr.  Ames  has  por- 
trayed its  character.  We  sometimes  hear  of  the 
control  which  the  press  exercises,  or  might  be  made 
to  exercise,  on  political  opinion.  We  do  not  ask  for 
a  press  that  shall  control  public  sentiment.  Let  us 
have  a  community  of  independent  thinkers,  that  will 
not  submit  to  be  governed  by  editorial  power — a 
community  that  is  able  to  act  on  the  press,  as  much 


27 

as  the  press  acts  on  that.     Let  us  have  a  people 
who,  like  a  most  acute  and  experienced  magistrate 
on  the  judicial   bench,  with  all  his  prejudices  and 
passions  held  subordinate  to  a  spirit  of  clear  inves- 
tigation and  a  predominating  intellect,  shall  balance 
conflicting    statements   and   weigh   contrary   argu- 
ments, and  sift,  and  search,  and  eliminate,  till  from 
the  chaos  of  opposing  elements,  the  disjointed  frag- 
ments and  broken  proportions  of  truth  shall  be  nice- 
ly adjusted  together,  and  it  shall  rise  a  new  creation 
before  the  mind.     We  want  a  people  that  when  the 
press  does  not  confine  itself  to  the  question  under 
discussion,  and  introduces  irrelevant  matter  into  the 
argument,  or  makes  mis-statements  and  deals  in  per- 
sonalities, shall,  like  the  presiding  officers  of  your 
honorable  legislative  bodies,  call  that  press  to  order. 
We  owe  it  to  the  solid  intellectual  cultivation  which 
so  many  of  the  people  obtain  in  the  schools,  that  the 
political  press  is  to  such  a  degree  an  instrument  of 
diffusing  light,  and  assisting  the  community  to  form 
correct  and  intelligent  conclusions  on  subjects  of  na- 
tional concern.     The  means  of  school  education,  it 
must  be  conceded,  are  very  defective  in  some  parts 
of  the  country.     But  when  we  consider  the  active 
and  inquisitive  state  of  mind  that  is  the  characteris- 
tic of  the  people — the  mass  of  information  that  is 


28 

floating  in  the  community — the  constant  call  and 
tendency  to  engage  in  political  discussions,  which 
are  created  by  our  institutions,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  leisure,  opportunity,  freedom  from  exhaust- 
ing toils  of  body,  and  anxious  animal  cares,  that 
leave  the  mind  elastic,  vigorous,  and  excursive  ;  we 
see  the  constituents  of  an  intellectual  material,  which, 
though  inadequate,  is  yet  a  most  encouraging  pecu- 
liarity of  American  society. 

The  education  of  the  people  in  schools,  is  awaken- 
ing a  continually  increasing  interest.  It  is  extend- 
ing its  range  and  deepening  its  foundation — and  no- 
where is  the  observation  more  true  than  in  Massa- 
chusetts. Let  the  great  work  of  popular  education 
continue  to  advance,  till  the  keenness  of  the  New 
England  intellect  shall  be  characteristic  of  the  whole 
nation,  and  be  sharpened  beyond  all  its  former  sharp- 
ness. Then  let  the  press  take  care  of  its  edge. 
Let  it  understand  that  it  must  assimilate  itself  to 
the  illumination  around  it ;  and  if  any  portion  of 
the  press  chooses  to  smoke  rather  than  to  emit  clear 
light,  let  it  smoke ;  it  cannot  obscure  the  light ;  for 
as  those  dense  columns  which  ascend  from  this  city 
in  a  clear  morning,  will  soon  be  lost  in  the  effulgence 
of  day,  so  the  smoke  of  the  press  will  disappear  in 
the  serene  atmosphere  and  brilliant  light  which  en- 
compass the  nation. 


29 

The  press  extended  as  it  is  in  this  country,  be- 
yond all  that  has  ever  existed  before,  sending  its 
swift  messengers  to  every  door  in  the  land,  operating 
as  it  does  on  a  base  of  mind  so  considerably  informed 
and  discriminating,  is  a  high  school  for  the  nation,  in 
vt'hich  it  is  always  learning,  and  from  which  it  never 
graduates,  and  in  which  it  is  training  its  powers  and 
adding  to  its  stores  of  knowledge  on  the  questions 
of  civil  policy  and  liberty,  beyond  all  former  prece- 
dent. 

It  is  a  question  upon  which  different  sides  are 
taken,  what  influence  the  general  diffusion  of 
knowledge  has  on  the  moral  virtues  which  are  es- 
sential to  republican  freedom.  It  is  necessary  to 
a  clear  view  of  the  inquiry,  that  the  terms  should  be 
accurately  defined.  To  what  sort  of  knowledge  does 
the  question  relate?  A  perception  of  the  moral  and 
christian  truths  contained  in  the  Bible,  and  a  percep- 
tion of  the  relations  of  numbers  and  geometrical 
figures  both  range  under  the  head  of  knowledge. 
Now  in  this  and  in  all  christian  countries,  the  terms 
popular  information  and  popular  intelligence,  include 
a  mixture  of  all  sorts  of  knowledge.  Arithmetic  is 
taught,  and  the  Bible  read  in  the  same  schools.  The 
relations  of  triangles  are  learned,  and  books  contain- 
ing illustrations  of  moral  truth,  perused  by  the  same 


30 

pupils.  The  press  teems  with  productions  on  all 
sorts  of  subjects,  and  often  in  the  same  work  will 
scientific  and  moral  knowledge  be  blended  together. 

Who  can  doubt  that  moral  knowledge  tends  to 
exert  a  moral  influence  ?  Who  doubts  that  popular 
information,  so  far  as  it  includes  moral  truth,  con- 
duces to  strengthen  moral  feeling,  and  promote  the 
traits  of  virtuous  character  ?  The  question  con- 
templates an  entire  separation  between  mere  scien- 
tific, literary,  and  political  truth,  and  that  which 
concerns  moral  relations  and  obligations  ;  a  question 
happily  not  so  practical  among  us,  as  it  might  at 
first  sight  appear. 

If  it  be  a  fact  that  in  the  instruction  of  the  young, 
in  the  books  that  form  the  reading  and  study  of  ma- 
turer  years,  in  most  of  those  sources  from  which  the 
intelligence  of  the  nation  is  fed,  more  or  less  moral 
and  christian  sentiment  is  introduced  as  an  almost 
inseparable  ingredient, — then  the  general  information 
of  the  nation  is  favorable  to  the  interests  of  virtue. 

That  a  considerable  allowance  must  be  made  for 
books  of  a  doubtful  and  injurious  character,  will 
not  be  disputed.  The  judgment  must  be  made 
up  on  the  predominant  tendency  of  that  which  con- 
tributes to  form  the  intelligence  of  the  popular 
mind. 


31 

But  the  fact  is,  that  all  mental  cultivation  is  of 
favorable  moral  tendency ;  no  small  part  of  the  power 
which  temptation  has  over  the  mind,  is  derived  from 
the  immediateness  of  the  gratification  which  it  of- 
fers. The  passions  and  appetites  owe  much  of  their 
great  force  and  mastery  over  the  man,  to  his  want 
of  ability  to  reason  and  calculate  consequences. 
There  are  multitudes  of  cases  in  which  men  yield  to 
the  seductions  of  vice,  when,  with  no  greater  strength 
of  moral  sentiment  than  they  now  possess,  they  would 
resist  the  assault  if  they  possessed  more  discipline  of 
thoughts,  and  vigorous  powers  of  reflection.  Mental 
force  is  as  real  an  antagonist  power  to  passion  as 
moral  force. 

A  few  moments  longer  reflection,  or  a  itw  addi- 
tional degrees  of  intensity  of  reflection,  in  the  hour 
of  temptation,  such  as  might  be  derived  from  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  mathematics,  or  any  other  study  of 
pure  intellection,  would  have  saved  many  a  victim 
from  crime  and  ruin.  And,  other  conditions  remain- 
ing the  same,  just  as  you  give  strength  and  activity, 
and  contemplative  habits  to  the  mass  of  mind  in  a 
given  community,  do  you  contribute  to  raise  men 
above  the  inferior  principles  of  their  nature,  and 
cause  prudence,  economy  and  self-restraint,  to  take 


32 

the  place  of  thoughtless  indulgence,  animalism,  and 
those  vices  which  sink  them  in  degradation. 

Another  agent  is  the  Christian  religion.     Let  all 
other  means  of  influence  favorable  to  free  institu- 
tions be  perfected  to  the  highest  degree,  and  render- 
ed as  potential  as  the  nature  of  things  will  possibly 
admit  in  their  operation  on  human  society,  still  we 
should  have  reason  to  despair  of  our  liberties  without 
the  celestial  and  all  controlling  influences  of  Chris- 
tianity.     The  history  of  the  world   demonstrates, 
that  the  best  constructed  forms  in  which  the  spirit 
of  freedom  can  enshrine   itself,  will  not  secure  its 
safety,  unless  there  be  a  large  infusion  of  Christian 
sentiment  into  the  mass  of  the  people.    Thanks  to 
the  favor  of  heaven,  the  genius  of  the   Christian  re- 
ligion is  more  pervasive  and  controlling  amongst  us, 
than  was  ever  witnessed  in  any  other  community  of 
equal  magnitude.     The  influence  of  the  pulpit  and 
Christian  institutions  is  acknowledged  generally  to 
extend  wide,  and  go  down  deep  into  the  feelings  of 
the  nation.     Much  of  that  tyrannical   power  which 
is  ascribed  to   public  opinion  in  this  country,  and 
which  forms  the  standing  theme  of  complaint  with 
foreign  travellers,  is  the  religious  sentiment  predom- 
inating in  the  minds  of  the  people,  adding  force  and 
delicacy  to  the  public  conscience,  frowning  on  infi- 


33 

delit_y  and  lax  manners,  and  exercising  a  more  rigidl_y 
supervisory  inspection  over  those  who  dislike  moral 
restraint,  than  exists  in  other  nations. 

Without,  however,  dwelling  on  those  general  con- 
siderations which  have  been  so  often  presented  and 
are  so  familiar,  permit  me  to  advert  to  the  fact,  that 
religion  has  superadded  to  its  common  influences, 
among  us,  two  which  are  of  a  more  special  char- 
acter. 

1.  It  is  most  intimately  associated  in  the  concep- 
tions of  the  people  with  the  progress  of  freedom  and 
human  rights.  The  tremendous  and  bloody  struggle 
for  religious  freedom  in  the  mother  country,  in  the 
heat  of  which  this  was  settled,  and  which  was  a 
most  influential  cause  of  its  settlement,  has  stamped 
its  features  on  all  our  institutions,  and  left  an  impres- 
sion which  time  will  not  efface.  The  notion  of  re- 
ligious liberty  is  one  of  the  most  cherished,  sacred,  and 
predominant  ideas  of  the  nation.  It  is  so  ingrained 
into  the  popular  mind,  that  it  sometimes  assumes  the 
most  grotesque  forms.  The  man  who  has  no  reli- 
gion at  all,  is  ready  to  contend  to  death  for  his  reli- 
gious rights.  The  disbeliever  in  the  Bible  vindicates 
his  most  Christian  privilege  to  reject  Christianity. 
The  most  insensible  to  moral  obligation,  entertains  a 

conscientious   belief  in  his   right  to  have   no  con- 
5 


34 

science.  The  jealousy  ol  religious  freedom  is  so 
great  in  some  States,  that  clergymen  are  prohibited 
from  holding  political  offices.  The  "  gallant "  State 
of  South  Carolina,  equally  zealous  for  religious  as 
for  State  rights,  shuts  the  door  of  all  civil  offices 
in  the  face  of  her  clergymen.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  considering  the  wonderful  courage  which  she 
exhibits,  generally,  she  betrays  a  most  excessive  fear 
of  the  Christian  ministry.  So  that  we  might,  per- 
haps, expect  if  she  should  execute  her  alarming 
threats  of  withdrawing  her  protection  from  the  gen- 
eral government,  and  shutting  the  United  States  out 
of  the  Union,  and  a  poor  clergyman  should  appear 
within  the  walls  of  her  Capitol,  she  would  nullify 
nullification,  and  forthwith  hasten  back  to  the  arms 
of  the  confederacy,  craving  protection  against  a  hier- 
archy. We  claim  for  Massachusetts  as  ardent  an 
attachment  for  religious  freedom,  and  as  great  an 
aversion  to  ecclesiastical  despotism,  as  exists  in  the 
empire  of  South  Carolina,  although  clergymen  have 
full  access  to  the  legislative  assemblies.  But  we 
respectfully  request  of  the  Legislature,  who  will  par- 
don the  digression  on  account  of  the  importance  of 
the  subj(  ct,  to  repel  every  attempt  unnecessarily  and 
dangerously  to  enlarge  their  power;  and  that  the 
proceedings  of  those   persons  who  have  repeatedly 


35 

petitioned,  that  gallows  might  be  erected  by  the 
churches,  and  that  ministers  of  the  gospel  should  be 
empowered  to  step  from  their  pulpits  to  execute 
criminals,  should  be  watched,  lest,  under  the  guise  of 
philanthropy,  and  a  pretended  attempt  to  affix  a 
stigma  to  blood-thirsty  priests,  their  real  aim  should 
be  to  unite  Church  and  State.  If  any  clergymen 
put  their  names  to  those  petitions,  we  are  sensible 
that  they  do  not  represent  the  wishes  of  the  ministry 
generally,  whatever  ambitious  designs  themselves 
may  harbor ;  and  we  think  that  the  great  body  of 
the  incumbents  of  the  sacred  office  are  as  unaspiring 
in  their  dispositions,  and  attached  to  the  religious 
rights  of  the  people  as  ever.  We  are  persuaded, 
my  respected  auditors,  that  if  such  a  request  should 
be  preferred  again,  the  petitioners  will  be  informed 
that  they  have  mistaken  the  temper  of  the  times, 
and  will  have  leave  to  amend  their  petition. 

But  to  return.  Our  political  liberties  are  safe  as 
long  as  religious  freedom  and  rights  are  retained. 
They  will  probably  stand  together  or  fall  together. 
But  the  love  of  religious  freedom  is  burnt  into  the 
heart  of  the  nation.  It  is  guarded  by  the  ramparts 
of  that  deep  sense  of  right,  which  the  fire  and  steel 
and  general  political  persecutions  of  England  could 
not  subdue,  centuries  ago,  and  which  is  now  a  more 


36 

impregnabl(3  defence  than  ever.  It  has  the  strong 
passions  and  prejudices  and  convictions  of  those  on 
its  side,  who,  though  they  see  no  divine  beauty  in 
Christianity,  yet  regard  it  for  the  unrestricted  lib- 
erty wliich  it  proclaims  to  the  expression  of  the 
thoughts  and  opinions  of  men.  Free  toleration  of 
religious  opinions  and  forms  of  worship,  equality  of 
rights  among  all  denominations,  are  endeared  to  the 
people  by  the  memory  of  their  fathers.  The  love  for 
them  is  fortified  by  an  intense  hatred  of  the  oppres- 
sions which  their  ancestors  suflfered  ;  it  is  kept  alive 
by  the  collisions  and  jealousies  of  rival  sects  who 
watch  and  detect  every  unfavorable  indication.  A 
cry  of  union  between  Church  and  State,  that  should 
be  supported  by  plausible  appearances,  would  be  the 
most  popular  watchword  under  which  a  party  could 
rally,  and  carry  with  it  the  tide  of  national  sympa- 
thy. One  great  idea  so  deeply  fixed — so  defined,  so 
historically  associated,  so  sensitively  alive  in  both  the 
devout  and  undevout,  to  the  most  distant  signs  of 
encroachment — so  associated  with  the  strongest  sense 
of  right  in  the  human  soul,  as  that  of  religious  free- 
dom, is  the  seminal  principle  of  all  kinds  of  liberty ; 
it  allies  itself  with  all  notions  of  popular  rights,  and 
if  it  could  be  established  in  the  communities  of  Eu- 
rope with  as  much  force  as  among  us,  would  make 
short  work  with  every  despotism  on  its  soil. 


37 

The  whole  history,  progress  and  influence  of  re- 
ligion among  the  American  people,  have  operated  to 
imprint  the  notion  of  religious  freedom  so  deep,  that 
it  will  only  cease  to  operate  when  the  remembrance 
of  Christianity  dies  out  of  the  soul. 

2.  Religion  is  now  most  vigorously  applied  to  so- 
cial reform.  In  later  times,  it  has  taken  on  a  new  type. 
It  aims  not  only  to  regenerate  the  individual  man, 
but  to  mould  and  amend  all  the  institutions  of  soci- 
ety. When  the  Gospel  was  first  promulgated,  the 
whole  social  state  was  constructed  on  principles  very 
alien  from  Christianity.  Mis-government,  political 
abuses,  the  oppressions  of  the  ignorant  and  weak  by 
the  cunning  and  the  strong — domestic  servitude,  were 
stamped  on  the  features,  and  formed  the  constitution 
of  every  community. 

The  wisdom  of  the  great  Founder  and  first  teachers 
of  Christianity,  made  no  direct  assault  on  civil  organ- 
izations— it  attempted  no  social  reforms, — but  aimed 
to  deposite  divine  principle  in  each  heart,  and  left  it 
first  to  do  its  work  in  the  individual  man,  and  next 
in  the  social  man,  till  it  should  revolutionize  the 
whole  mass  of  humanity. 

But  religion  came  to  this  country  as  a  political  re- 
former. It  aimed  not  merely  to  affect  the  individ- 
ual man,  but  to  bring  constitutions  and  states  and 


38 

laws,  and  all  forms,  customs  and  institutions  of  soci- 
ety under  its  plastic  control.  It  has  retained  that 
character  to  this  time,  and  never  since  the  origin  of 
the  country,  was  the  spirit  of  religion  more  aggres- 
sive and  reformatory  than  at  this  moment.  Our 
political  organizations  which  put  the  sovereign  power 
into  the  hands  of  the  people,  abolish  all  castes,  and 
open  every  institution  in  the  land  to  the  whole  sweep 
of  the  popular  mind,  encourage  this  particular  mani- 
festation of  religion  in  a  remarkable  degree. 

What  a  contrast  between  the  socially  active  as- 
sailant, and  reformatory  spirit  of  religion  among  us, 
to  that  retired  and  self-communing  character  which  it 
has  exhibited  at  some  times;  when  though  it  aimed, 
indeed,  to  extend  itself  by  conversion,  yet  it  was  the 
concern  of  the  humble  convert  to  lead  a  quiet  and 
peaceable  life,  amidst  the  grossest  political  abuses, 
and  not  to  seek  great  outward  and  formal  changes — 
and  when  there  was  a  strong  propensity  to  quit  so- 
cial life,  and  nourish  a  contemplative  and  solitary 
piety  in  caves  and  deserts, — when  convents  and 
monasteries  received  those  who  sought  to  work  out 
their  salvation,  by  prayers,  and  vigils,  and  fastings, 
in  lonely  cells  unmolested  by  the  agitations  of  the 
world. 

Now  every  man  considers  himself  by  his  christian 


39 

profession  as  a  reformer — the  spirit  of  his  religion 
goes  outward — it  seeks  to  reorganize  the  structure 
of  communities,  and  aims  to  pour  its  healing  waters 
into  every  turbid  stream  that  flows  through  social 
life.  It  is  resolved  to  fix  the  print  of  its  strong  and 
corrective  hand  on  every  institution  and  practice, 
that  touch  the  interests  and  happiness  of  man. 

The  active  and  reforming  character  which  Chris- 
tianity has  assumed — the  bold  and  searching  appli- 
cation which  is  made  of  religious  truth,  to  every  un- 
sound part  of  the  civil  and  social  state,  and  to  popular 
customs ;  the  carrying  out  of  the  divine  principles 
from  their  control  over  the  inner  man,  and  individual 
conduct,  in  operation  over  the  broad  surface  of  the 
community,  are  most  favorable  to  the  developement 
and  progress  of  free  institutions,  and  the  improve- 
ment of  the  condition  of  man. 

The  readiness  with  which  those  who  are  not  pen- 
etrated by  the  higher  and  more  spiritual  influences 
of  Christianity,  will  unite  with  such  as  are  truly  im- 
bued with  the  genius  of  religion,  to  promote  great 
popular  reforms,  to  correct  abuses  which  seem  woven 
into  the  national  manners,  to  elevate  the  moral,  po- 
litical and  economical  condition  of  all  classes,  is  an 
evidence  of  the  social  direction  which  Christianity  is 
taking,  and  the  power  with  which  it  is  bearing  along 


40 

with  it  the  sentiments  and  feelings  of  men,  to  a  new 
era  of  civilization. 

In  fact,  the  reforming  spirit  has  taken  such  hold 
on  the  public  mind,  that  it  has  become  in  many  a 
kind  of  mania.  It  sees  evil  in  every  thing  which 
exists.  Its  morbid  imagination  converts  the  most 
harmless  objects  into  malignant  spirits,  and  dragons, 
and  gorgons.  Some  seem  bent  on  doing  so  perfect 
a  cure  on  the  bodj  politic,  that  they  attempt  to  kill 
both  the  disease  and  the  patient  too. 

The  Bible  is  so  antiquated  in  the  view  of  some, 
and  savors  so  much  of  the  barbarous  morality  of  an 
uncivilized  age,  that  it  has  fallen  behind  the  times. 
Christianity  needs  christianizing,  and  its  spirit  of 
love  to  be  sublimated  into  the  transcendental,  super- 
exquisite,  double  refined  philanthropy  of  the  apostles 
of  a  civilized  Gospel. 

I  have  referred  to  these  ultraists,  as  indicating  the 
strong  tendency  of  popular  feeling.  Whatever  pres- 
ent annoyance  and  mischief  they  may  occasion,  they 
need  excite  no  serious  alarm.  They  are  the  mere 
froth  and  filth  which  are  thrown  out  upon  the  sur- 
face of  society  by  intestine  fermentation,  at  once 
showing  the  direction  of  the  current,  and  the  violence 
of  the  agitation  by  which  it  is  attempting  to  work 
itself  clear  of  internal  impurities. 


41 

In  close  connection  with  the  foregoing  remarks, 
the  deep  conviction  on  the  minds  of  the  religious 
community,  of  the  indispensable   necessity  of  sup- 
plying the  new  and  increasing  settlements  of  the 
country  with  the   means  of  christian  knowledge,  de- 
serves to  be  alluded  to.     It  is  a  growing,  ineradicable 
principle   with    men   of    enlightened   and   christian 
views,  that  religion  is  no  more  necessary  to  the  life 
of  the  soul,  than  to  the  preservation  of  republican 
liberty.     They  believe  that  no  policy  of  statesman- 
ship, that  no  perfection  of  civil  government,  that  no 
skill  in  the  enaction  and  administration  of  laws,  that 
no  institutions  of  learning,  that  no  resources  which 
human  wisdom  and   power  can  command,  will  pre- 
serve our  institutions  without  the  influence  of  relig- 
ion.    It  is  the  last  hope  on  which  they  rest  the  lib- 
erties of  republican  America.     Hence  an  appeal  to 
furnish  the  great  West  with  christian  institutions, 
will  thrill  upon  the  older  States  like  a  battle-cry  to 
defend  their  freedom.     They  are  determined  to  run 
a  chain  of  christian  fortresses  the  whole  length  of 
the  Mississippi.     They  are  resolved  to  wall  every 
city  with  christian  ramparts  and  christian  batteries  ; 
and  to  have  a  standing  army  of  soldiers  of  the  cross, 
disciplined  with  heavenly  skill,  and  armed  with  those 
6 


42 

spiritual  weapons,  which  are  mighty  through  God  to 
repel  rhe  assault  of  every  i'oe  to  American  liberty. 

IV.  The  decline  of  the  military  spirit  is  another 
favorable  indication. 

The  framers  of  our  Constitution  were  most  deeply 
impressed  with  the  dangers  to  which  popular  insti- 
tutions were  exposed  by  military  taste  and  ambition. 
The  history  of  the  old  world  was  a  lesson  of  instruc- 
tion to  them.  In  France,  before  the  Revolution,  the 
military  spirit  was  so  predominant,  that  "  all  trades 
and  merchandise,  and  a  condition  of  labor  were  held 
degrading."  The  Revolution  terminated,  as  it  might 
have  been  expected,  in  a  military  despotism,  though 
various  causes  contributed  to  the  result. 

When  this  spirit  is  predominant — when  the  mili- 
tary title  is  the  most  honorable  title — when  the  sol- 
dier's occupation  is  the  most  honorable  employment 
— when  the  plume  and  cap,  epaulet  and  sword,  are 
more  glittering  than  badges  of  civil  distinction,  free- 
dom is  in  great  peril  and  cannot  long  exist.  The 
slightest  pretences  will  be  set  up  for  foreign  war, — 
standing  armies  will  be  maintained, — men  will  desert 
industrial  pursuits  for  camps, — the  spirit  of  freedom 
will  cower  and  be  over-awed,  and  ambitious  men 
will   be  under  strong  temptations,  as  well  as   fur- 


43 

nished  with  a  most  convenient  instrument  to  seize 
on  the  liberties  of  the  people.     Whilst  the  indispen- 
sable importance  of  military  organization  and  disci- 
pline is  most  freely  conceded,  to  meet  the  various 
emergencies  which  may  arise,  it  is  yet  a  subject  of 
congratulation,  that  the  spirit  of  peace,  industry  and 
religion,  in  this  country,  so  much  predominates  over 
the  military  feeling.     It  is  true,  that  with  too  many, 
a  military  reputation  is  more  dazzling  than  any  other, 
and  that  the  victories  which   are  obtained  by  a  suc- 
cessful   general,    by    balls    and    bayonets    over   the 
bodies  of  men,  are  more  illustrious  than  the  most  tri- 
umphant civil  battles,  which  reason  and  argument  ever 
obtain  over  the  prejudices  and  errors  of  the  human 
understanding.     There  is  something  so  much  more 
palpable,  appreciable  and  striking,  in  the  struggles 
and  results  of  a  triumphant  battle,  to  unreflecting 
and  gross  minds,  than  in  the  successful   exposure  of 
sophistry  and    error,    in   the    power  with   which   a 
great  mind  moulds  the  feelings  and  sentiments  of 
others  to  his  own,  and  upholds  a  system  of  prosper- 
ous policy  against  opposing  forces,  that  the  reputa- 
tion of  one  considerable   military  victory  in  a  candi- 
date for  office,  outweighs  every  civil  disqualification. 
But  on  the  whole,  the  military  spirit  has  suffered 
a  great  decline.     The  highest  military  titles  are  held 


44 

in  much  less  estimation  than  formerly,  and  to  desig- 
nate a  person  by  some  of  those  lower  distinctions, 
which  once  were  considered  as  rigorously  due,  as 
the  royal  and  noble  titles  in  monarchical  nations, 
would  be  deemed  in  many  cases  a  questionable 
act  of  civility,  if  not  an  impeachment  of  a  gentle- 
man's respectability.  Military  musters  are  waning 
in  their  interest,  except  to  those  who,  like  Miss  Mar- 
tineau,  happen  to  land  on  our  shores  in  some  great 
national  panic,  and  are  yielding  to  the  superior  at- 
tractions of  agricultural  exhibitions,  and  mechanic 
fairs. 

The  growing  humanity  of  society — the  powerful 
direct  as  well  as  indirect  influences  of  Christianity — 
the  love  of  industry — the  commercial  spirit — the  di- 
rect efforts  to  expose  the  impolicy  and  inhumanity 
of  war,  and  to  inspire  pacific  dispositions — our  favor- 
able territorial  situation,  exempting  us  to  such  a  de- 
gree from  the  dangers  of  foreign  invasion,  direct  the 
current  of  human  feeling  into  channels  that  are  safer 
for  liberty,  and  encourage  us  to  hope  for  a  happy  de- 
liverance from  the  arm  of  that  dreadful  foe  which 
has  so  often  struck  it  down  among  the  nations. 

But  there  are  some  things  which  are  supposed  to 
look  with  a  threatening  aspect  on  our  liberties. 


46 

1.  One  of  which  is  the  efforts  made  to  propagate 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  connected  with  the  suc- 
cess which  seems  to  attend  these  efforts. 

The  fears  which  are  entertained  by  many  on  this 
subject  are  natural,  and  not  without  grounds  to  jus- 
tify them.  I  make  no  apology,  my  respected  audi- 
tors, for  alluding  to  this  topic  upon  the  present  oc- 
casion. 

As  it  respects  those  tenets  of  the  Romanists, 
which  are  exclusively  theological,  it  would  be  a  vio- 
lation of  propriety  to  discuss  them  at  this  time.  But 
if  this  denomination  entertains  any  political  opinions 
that  are  inconsistent  with  republican  freedom,  or  if 
any  of  their  theological  doctrines,  have  a  political 
bearing  that  is  adverse  to  human  liberty,  or  tend  to 
restrict  or  overthrow  any  of  those  institutions  upon 
which  the  perpetuity  of  our  civil  rights  and  equality, 
are  acknowledged  by  general  consent,  in  a  good 
measure  to  depend — if  great  efforts  are  made  to 
plant  the  Catholic  religion  in  this  country,  and  pros- 
elyte the  nation  to  its  system  of  belief — if  Catholic 
powers  in  Europe,  alarmed  at  the  great  onward 
movement  of  the  age,  are  using  means  to  establish 
their  faith  among  us,  whether  in  a  form  more  or 
less  modified,  yet  with  a  design  to  subvert  our  liber- 
ties and  of  annexing  this  prospectively  vast  nation  to 


46 

the  domains  of  despotism,  and  in  a  form  adapted 
to  secure  this  object,  then  let  every  freeman  utter 
his  voice,  let  him  speak  every  where  and  any  where, 
and  especially,  before  the  venerated  chief  magistrate 
and  civil  authorities  of  this  Commonwealth. 

There  is  great  reason  to  suspect,  if  not  no  reason 
to  doubt,  that  great  efforts  are  made  by  some  foreign 
political  men,  to  extend  the  Catholic  religion,  which 
they  find  so  convenient  an  ally  of  despotism  in  their 
own  countries,  in  this  land  also,  for  the  purpose  of 
arresting  the  progress  of  free  opinions,  and  over- 
turning our  republican  institutions. 

Will  they  succeed  ?  That  this  religion  will  spread 
in  our  nation,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  a  modi- 
fied form,  divested  of  its  temporal  power,  obnoxious 
political  features,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  of  its 
anti-republican  tendencies,  is  doubtless  true.  It  will 
have  its  place  among  the  other  numerous  forms  of 
religious  faith  which  we  hope  will  always  be  suffered 
to  extend  themselves  to  the  utmost  of  their  power, 
without  hinderance  or  molestation  from  the  interfer- 
ence of  government. 

But  this  will  not  answer  the  design  of  the  enemies 
of  human  freedom.  To  secure  their  object,  it  must 
exist  here,  as  in  some  European  nations,  a  supporter 
of  despotic  power,  a  foe  to  general  education,  armed 


47 

with  the  power  of  civil  penalties,  and  a  controller  of 
the  conscience  and  faith  of  the  people. 

Is  there  reason  to  believe  that  it  will  ever  be  es- 
tablished here,  as  a  great  hierarchj,  wielding  politi- 
cal power  to  the  destruction  of  American  freedom? 

It  is  but  justice  to  the  leading  Catholics  of  the 
United  States,  to  say,  that  they  disavow  all  designs 
inconsistent  with  our  free  institutions.  But  without 
impeaching  the  sincerity  of  their  declarations, — which, 
the  history  and  character  of  the  Romish  religion  lead 
many  to  fear, — are  made  as  much  from  policy  as  from 
conviction,  we  have  a  right  to  inquire,  however  cor- 
rect may  be  the  present  intentions  of  the  Priesthood, 
what  they  might  be  induced  to  attempt,  if  by  any 
means,  the  country  were  brought  into  such  a  condi- 
tion as  would  present  a  promising  opportunity  to 
give  the  Catholic  religion  that  character  and  power 
which  it  has  in  some  European  nations,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  ecclesiastical  states  of  Italy.  It  is  a 
fact  that  the  Pope  has  recently  issued  a  decree,  en- 
joining it  upon  all  the  faithful,  to  interdict  the  use 
of  the  Bible  to  the  common  people.  Is  the  Pope 
the  authoritative  head  of  the  church,  as  he  assumes 
by  this  ordinance  to  be  ?  Has  there  been  any  re- 
sponsible and  explicit  disavowal  of  the  right  of  his 
Holiness  to  issue  this  command  to  inferior  ecclesias- 


48 

tics,  bj  Catholic  Bishops  in  this  country  ?  And  is  it 
the  present  policy  of  the  head  of  the  Romish  church, 
to  forbid  the  free  use  of  the  word  of  God  to  its 
members  ?  If  this  is  the  policy  of  the  church,  then 
it  is  hostile  to  American  freedom.  It  aims  to  subvert 
one  of  the  great  pillars  of  modern  civilization,  and 
republican  institutions  ;  and  the  principle  upon  which 
the  scriptures  are  made  inaccessible  to  the  people, 
extends  to  all  those  agencies  which  tend  to  give  that 
illumination,  enlargement  and  self-direction  to  the 
mind,  which  are  the  basis  of  popular  freedom. 

The  question  then  would  be,  not  so  much  what 
are  the  present  intentions  of  the  Catholics  in  the 
country,  as  to  the  ultimate  exercise  of  political  pow- 
er, as  what  the  prospects  are  of  the  final  spread  of 
the  Catholic  faith  in  that  obnoxious  form,  in  which 
it  has  been  recently  commended  to  the  faithful  by 
the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  which  would  certainly  pre- 
pare the  way  for  the  introduction  of  the  most  rig- 
orous exercise  of  ecclesiastical  despotism. 

De  Tocqueville  thinks  that  the  democratic  tenden- 
cies of  the  nation  are  peculiarly  favorable  to  the 
spread  of  the  Catholic  religion  ;  that  the  taste  for 
unity,  simplicity  and  impartiality,  with  which  politi- 
cal equality  imbues  the  mind,  disposes  it,  when  it 
has  any  religious  belief  at  all,  to  submit  to  an  au- 


49 

thority  which  is  single  and  uniform.  He  is  a  friend 
to  democratic  institutions,  and  bv  no  means  contem- 
plates  any  disastrous  results  to  liberty,  from  the 
prevalence  of  a  religion  which,  even  as  he  seems  to 
conceive  of  it,  requires  of  its  votaries  a  surrender  of 
their  religious  faith  to  ecclesiastical  dictation. 

But,  if  we  should  admit,  with  the  illustrious  author, 
that  there  are  some  peculiarities  in  the  American 
mind,  which  favourably  dispose  it  to  the  Catholic 
belief  in  a  certain  form ;  how  many  other  most  pow- 
erful and  hostile  tendencies  exist  to  all  those  features 
of  the  system  which  have  a  decidedly  political  char- 
acter, and  are  adverse  to  civil  rights  and  popular 
institutions ! 

The  papal  religion  as  it  existed  in  its  palmiest 
days,  a  foe  to  general  improvement  and  the  rights 
of  independent  judgment — armed  with  the  terrific 
power  of  inflicting  civil  penalties  to  enforce  theolo- 
gical belief,  is  most  repugnant  to  the  habits  and  spirit 
of  American  society — it  is  against,  in  fact,  the  whole 
current  of  modern  civilization,  which  has  developed 
its  tendencies  so  fully  here — its  history  is  a  sentence 
of  condemnation,  inscribed  as  it  were  on  the  whole 
arch  of  the  heaven,  and  visible  to  all  the  people.  It 
is  too  late  in  the  day  to  recover  what  it  has  lost,  and 
7 


60 

gain  new  conquests.  The  age  has  gone  beyond  it. 
It  has  to  sustain  the  impetuous  and  unyielding  as- 
saults of  all  those  tremendous  forces  which  are 
brought  into  action  by  the  advancement  of  society — 
and  the  progress  which  Romish  belief  is  making 
in  new  and  humble  forms,  with  disguised  dress  and 
changed  name  is  but  the  effect  of  the  recoil  of  that 
heavy  ordinance  which  is  battering  down  its  walls. 
Puseyism  is  a  fugitive  from  the  Roman  camp,  with  a 
feigned  name,  and  new  costume,  and  lighter  armor, 
assumed  to  avoid  detection  and  extermination. 

The  Catholic  religion  in  its  full  vigor  and  develop- 
ment, was  fitted  to  a  particular  period  of  the  world, 
and  state  of  the  social  system,  and  no  other — like 
those  monsters  which  geology  has  dug  out  of  the 
lower  strata  of  the  earth,  and  whose  structure  shows, 
that  they  were  never  designed  to  live  amidst  the 
higher  organization  of  this  last  and  more  perfect 
creation  of  the  world. 

it  is  well  known  that  popery,  in  its  political  and 
anti-social  form,  has  not  been  able  to  sustain  itself  in 
Europe.  It  is  shaking  and  yielding  amidst  those 
active  forces,  which  are  revolutionizing  the  nations, 
and  moving  on  to  fulfil  the  great  destiny  of  the  hu- 
man family.  Macaulay  is  of  opinion  that  the  pro- 
gress of  knowledge  and  the  arts,  is  not  unfavorable 


51 

to  the  existence  and  prevalence  of  papacy,  because, 
notwithstanding  the  immense  increase  of  mental  illu- 
mination and  activity  within  the  last  two  centuries. 
Protestantism  has  gained  no  conquests  since  the  re- 
action which  followed  the  Reformation, — and  he 
supposes  also  that  the  fact,  that  Sir  Thomas  More 
lived  and  died  in  the  belief  of  transubstantiation  is 
fatal  to  those  encouragements  which  Protestantism 
derives  from  the  advancement  of  general  knowledge. 
But  he  has  made  no  allowance  for  the  changes  which 
the  Catholic  system  has  undergone  in  the  countries 
where  it  nominally  holds  sway,  and  that  immense 
under  current  of  popular  feeling,  which,  like  the  great 
and  almost  unobserved  movement  that  preceded  the 
Reformation,  is  making  perpetual  inroads  upon  its 
domain,  and  undermining  its  foundations ;  nor  has  he 
duly  taken  into  account  the  vast  preponderance  of 
resources  and  power  and  influence  which  freedom 
has  imparted  to  the  Protestant  nations,  and  which 
are  acting  on  the  papal  world  with  an  effect  most 
prodigious,  irresistible,  and  augmenting  beyond  all 
assignable  limitations.  And  what  though  Sir  Thom- 
as More  was  a  devout  believer  in  the  mysteries  of 
transubstantiation,  when  notwithstanding  the  incon- 
sistencies of  some  parts  of  his  conduct,  occasioned  by 
the  agitated  state  of  the  times,  he  avowed  in  one  of 


62 

his  works,  the  most  liberal  sentiments,  proclaimed 
himself  an  enemy  to  bigotry  and  intolerance,  and 
has  inculcated  the  largest  forbearance  to  all  sorts  of 
opinions. 

If  then  the  papal  religion  is  unable  to  stand  firm 
against  the  insurgent  forces  of  Europe,  with  so  much 
to  aid  it  in  the  constitution  of  society  there,  how  is 
it  to  establish  itself  here,  where  society  is  construct- 
ed on  a  different  model,  and  all  these  forces  are  in 
ceaseless  activity  and  operating  with  a  power  which 
increases  every  moment  ?  Before  the  foreign  con- 
spirators can  subvert  our  liberties,  they  must  bind  the 
press — they  must  arrest  the  popular  zeal  for  educa- 
tion, and  shut  up  the  common  schools — they  must 
wrest  the  Bible  from  the  hands  of  the  common 
people.  They  must  allay  the  ceaseless  jealousy  of 
religious  sects,  that  hear  the  clank  of  chains  in  every 
breeze — they  must  disband  every  ecclesiastical  organ- 
ization and  religious  association  in  the  land — they 
must  persuade  that  restless  mind  to  submit  to  a  pre- 
scribed faith  which  changes  its  governing  opinions 
every  month,  perhaps  on  the  democratic  principle  of 
rotation  in  office.  Can  they  accomplish  this  ?  might 
they  not  as  well  cause  the  Mississippi  to  flow  back 
to  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony  ?  and  turn  the  course  of 
every  river  that  empties  into  the   Atlantic  towards 


63 

the  Lakes  and  the  Alleghanies?  The  enemy  can 
capture  the  fortress,  if  he  can  batter  down  the  walls, 
and  spike  the  cannon,  and  secure  the  arms  of  its 
defenders,  but  the  difficulty  is  to  remove  these  im- 
pediments. 

The  great  architect.  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  said 
that  he  would  agree  to  frame  an  arch  like  that 
of  Kings  College  in  Cambridge,  if  any  one  would 
tell  him  where  to  lay  the  first  stone.  The  problem 
to  be  solved  by  those  who  design  to  rear  an  arch  of 
despotism  in  this  union,  is  how  and  where  to  lay  the 
first  stone. 

Any  serious  attempt  to  restrict  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  or  overturn  our  system  of  popular  education,  or 
interdict  the  free  use  of  the  Scriptures,  would  unite 
the  whole  people  as  one  man,  with  the  ardor  of  the 
revolutionary  spirit,  to  repel  the  audacious  encroach- 
ment. 

The  commercial  and  industrial  habits  of  the  mass 
of  the  people,  and  that  ardor  of  competition  in  all 
pursuits,  which  presses  every  individual  and  class  of 
people  onward  and  upward,  would  be  a  most  formi- 
dable obstruction  to  the  establishment  of  a  Romish 
despotism. 

The  Protestant  and  Catholic  countries  of  Europe 
are  visibly  distinguished,  in  favor  of  the  former,  by 


54 

the  state  of  trade  and  agriculture,  general  industry, 
and  progress  in  all  those  arts  which  advance  and 
embelhsh  the  social  condition  of  man. 

The  papal  religion,  to  gain  the  ascendancy  which  it 
has  in  the  despotic  countries  of  Europe,  must  change 
the  whole  industrial  character  of  the  nation,  and 
arrest  that  tide  of  life  which  pours  like  the  waters 
of  our  vast  rivers,  through  the  channels  of  the  nation. 

Miss  Martineau  says,  that  a  distinguishing  quality 
of  the  New  England  clocks  which  are  sold  in  the 
south  and  west,  is  to  go  too  fast — a  trait  which  she 
supposes  to  be  illustrative  of  the  character  of  the 
manufacturers.  The  energetic  and  independent 
qualities  of  the  artificers  seem  to  be  infused  into  the 
mechanism  of  the  time-piece,  which  will  no  more 
submit  to  the  old  laws  of  the  earth's  motion,  than 
our  fathers  would  consent  to  be  governed  by  the  an- 
tiquated regulations  of  the  mother  country.  These 
clocks  are  exported  to  foreign  lands,  to  teach,  we 
may  hope,  all  those  who  would  engraft  the  oppres- 
sive institutions  of  the  old  world  on  our  soil,  if  not 
by  the  rapid  movements  of  their  machinery,  at  least 
by  the  evidence  which  is  afforded  by  them  of  Ameri- 
can enterprise  and  skill,  that  they  are  behind  the 
American  lime. 

Let  it  ever  be  considered  that  the  papal  system 


55 

must  have  a  populace,  a  degraded  and  inferior  caste 
of  people,  a  lower  and  distinct  stratum  of  society  to 
rest  upon,  as  the  foundation  of  its  support.  It  can 
no  more  establish  and  maintain  itself  without  such  a 
basis,  than  a  man  can  sustain  himself  in  mid  air. 
We  have  no  populace  here ;  there  is  no  lower  stra- 
tum, or  rather  the  populace  is  the  gentry  and  nobility, 
and  the  lower  stratum  is  uppermost,  and  for  that 
great  spiritual  despotism  which  has  crushed  the  mil- 
lions upon  whom  it  has  rested  in  the  old  world,  there 
is  not  a  corner  stone  in  the  United  States. 

2.  Great  fears  are  entertained  of  the  influence  of 
foreign  immigrants,  particularly  of  the  Catholic  per- 
suasion. 

But  it  should  always  be  remembered,  that  the 
very  spirit  which  leads  to  emigration  is  favorable  to 
freedom  and  mental  enlargement.  That  dissatisfac- 
tion with  their  condition  at  home — that  restlessness 
under  the  restraints  of  European  society — that  aspi- 
ration to  rise  higher  in  the  scale  of  social  life,  and  to 
breathe  a  freer  air,  which  lead  so  many  to  snap  all 
ties,  and  adventure  their  fortunes  in  the  new  world, 
are  qualities  which  assimilate  rather  easily  to  the 
spirit  and  habits  of  republican  citizens.  No  person 
comes  to  take  up  his  residence  in  this  country,  with- 
out being  powerfully  affected  by  the  transmuting 
agencies  of  American  institutions. 


66 

Some  persons  who  have  acquired  a  taste  for  the 
compliant  and  obsequious  obedience  which  foreign- 
ers receive  from  ilieir  dependents,  have  imported 
some  of  this  class  for  domestic  service;  but  no  sooner 
do  they  begin  to  inhale  the  air  of  republicanism  than, 
in  imitation  of  the  fashion  of  the  country,  they  make 
a  declaration  of  independence.  They  acquire  such 
lofty  notions  of  equal  rights  and  self-respect,  that 
their  former  deferential  and  cringing  manners  are 
changed  into  the  airs  of  erect,  sometimes  insolent, 
insurgent  and  democratic  citizens. 

Servants  can  no  more  breathe  in  America,  than 
slaves  can  in  England. 

And  not  only  does  that  tame  and  servile  spirit 
which  is  so  prevalent  in  the  inferior  classes  in  Europe 
disappear  in  this  free  land,  but  that  mental  activity, 
self-respect,  sense  of  moral  obligation,  desire  to  raise 
the  condition  in  life,  which  lead  to  industry,  order  and 
republican  virtues  and  right  use  of  liberty,  are  pro- 
duced and  fostered  by  the  institutions  of  our  country. 

Complaints  are  made  that  not  merely  those  who 
have  a  wish  to  improve  their  condition  by  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  just  immunities  and  rights,  and  the 
exercise  of  a  more  successful  industry,  but  that  the 
mdolent,  vicious,  sharpers,  and  fugitives  from  justice 
turn  their  course  to  this  land,  as  a  place  more  favora- 


67 

ble  to  the  indulgence  of  their  depraved  inclinations, 
and  the  depredations  which  they  seek  to  commit  on 
the  community.  That  such  persons  are  most  unprom- 
ising materials  for  the  construction  of  our  republican 
edifice,  is  unquestionable. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  they  form  a  small 
proportion  of  the  whole  body  of  foreign  immigrants ; 
and  a  part  of  these,  when  withdrawn  from  the  temp- 
tations and  unfavorable  circumstances  of  their  former 
situations,  when  placed  in  the  new  situations  and 
connections  which  they  hold  here,  and  acted  upon  by 
the  wholesome,  social  and  moral  influences  that  oper- 
ate on  the  people  of  this  land,  will  find  their  unex- 
tinguished   better  feelings  reached,  invigorated  and 
gaining  ascendancy  over  those  evil  habits,  and  those 
vices,  which  have  held  them  in  degrading  bondage. 
It  is  found  that  a  considerable  part  of  those  criminals 
which  are  transported  from  England  to  her  distant 
penal  settlements,  are  reclaimed  to  industry,  sobriety 
and  virtuous  manners,  by  their  mere  withdrawment 
from  former  scenes  of  life,  and  their  establishment 
in  a  new  condition ;  although  enjoying  a  much  less 
advantageous  situation  for  reformation  and  the  culti- 
vation of  moral  dispositions,  than  is  furnished  by  the 
state  of  society  in  this  country. 

However,  dangers  have  always  been  apprehended 
8 


58 

from  a  too  hasty  admission  of  foreign  immigrants  to 
the  rights  of  suffrage  and  eligibility  to  political  office ; 
and  as  the  tide  is  setting  so  strongly  from  the  old 
world  to  our  shores,  and  bears  upon  its  bosom  a 
mixed  multitude  of  all  sorts  of  opinions  and  prejudices 
and  all  grades  of  intellectual  cultivation — it  does  not 
seem  a  fit  time  to  relax  that  system  of  restrictions 
which  the  wisdom  of  our  fathers  adopted  to  afiford 
security  against  the  ignorance,  misconceptions  and 
uncongeniality  of  those  whose  characters  are  formed 
in  distant  lands  under  influences  so  different  from 
those  which  control  our  community. 

The  assimilating  process  cannot  be  perfected  at 
once,  even  in  those  who  have  the  strongest  affinity 
for  the  republican  spirit  and  manners ;  and  whilst  it 
must  be  admitted  that  there  are  some  who  come  to 
dwell  among  us,  whose  spirits  blend  most  quickly 
and  kindly  with  the  true  American  feeling,  there  are 
so  many  who  do  not  yield  easily  to  the  improving 
influences  of  their  new  and  unaccustomed  position, 
that  it  is  a  matter  of  rejoicing  and  a  sign  for  good, 
that  there  is  now  waked  up  such  a  just  feeling  in 
the  community  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  taking 
decided  and  strong  measures  to  defend  the  avenues 
through  which  perils  are  approaching  our  institutions. 

The  people  are  right  in  standing  on  the  defensive. 


69 

Let  that  man  who  surrenders  his  independent  judg- 
ment to  a  Romish  priest,  and  takes  his  political,  as  he 
does  his  religious  opinions,  from  his  lips,  be  deemed, 
and  taken,  and  held,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  a 
man  under  twenty-one  years  of  age,  if  he  be  as  old 
as  an  antediluvian  patriarch,  and  wait  for  the  full 
privileges  of  a  citizen  till  he  is  free  from  his  ghostly 
father.  Let  him  be  under  restriction  for  a  time 
sufficient  to  have  acquired  enough  of  republican 
intelligence  and  a  republican  disposition,  to  know  and 
feel,  that  this  land  has  been  baptized  into  freedom 
of  all  kinds,  mental,  political  and  religious ;  and  that 
it  is  not  in  our  declaration  of  independence,  nor  any 
part  of  our  bill  of  rights,  that  ecclesiastical  priests  or 
political  priests,  should  come  between  any  man  and 
the  conscience  and  reason,  which  God  has  given  him. 

Let  it  be  understood,  that,  if  this  land  is  to  be 
made  a  receptacle  for  foreign  paupers  and  criminals, 
they  shall  be  subject,  to  some  extent,  to  pauper 
house  regulations,  and  prison  discipline.  We  have 
reason  to  hope,  that  what  political  regulations  can 
do,  will  be  done,  to  guard  that  mighty  engine,  the 
ballot  box,  from  the  tampering  of  unskilful  hands 
and  political  frauds. 

May  we  not  hope  that  men  of  all  political  sects 
will  forbear  to  make  this  a  party  question — that  they 


60 

will  calmly  look  at  the  subject  as  one  of  common 
interest  to  all,— that  they  will  unite,  I  do  not  say  to 
form  another  party,  for  on  this  I  offer  no  opinion,  but 
in  one  great  republican,  national  and  patriotic  party, 
to  protect  the  land  from  those,  who,  though  they 
come  without  weapons,  are  as  really  dangerous,  if 
not  watched  and  restricted,  as  navies  and  armies 
approaching  with  hostile  intent  and  armed  with  mu- 
nitions of  war. 

3.  It  is  said  that  the  tendency  of  civilization  and 
prosperity  is  to  accumulate  property  in  masses,  and 
so  concentrate  vast  sums  in  the  hands  of  individuals, 
as  to  depress  the  wages  and  condition  of  the  laboring 
classes  to  a  point  inconsistent  with  a  comfortable 
subsistence;  and  as  the  right  of  suffrage  in  this 
country  will  be  necessarily  universal,  and  the  sove- 
reign power  in  the  hands  of  the  majority,  they  will 
grow  restive  under  their  privations,  throw  off  the 
restraints  of  law,  divide  the  possessions  of  the  rich, 
overturn  our  institutions :  and  that  the  result  will  be 
a  popular  or  military  despotism.  Thus  Macaulay 
refers  us  to  the  twentieth  century  as  a  crisis  danger- 
ous to  our  republicanism  arising  from  the  centraliza- 
tion of  wealth. 

The  population  of  the  country  is  comparatively  so 
sparse  at  present — there  is  such  an  immense  amount 


61 

of  productive  land,  yet  in  a  wild  and  unsettled  state 
over  which  the  redundance  of  the  older  communities 
may  flow  for  a  century,  before  covering  the  soil,  that 
the  danger  under  any  circumstances  is  very  remote. 
In  the  mean  time,  whatever  political  regulations 
are  yet  necessary  to  be  made  to  promote  a  juster 
distribution  of  wealth,  and  protect  the  poor  against 
the  encroachments  of  the  rich,  the  people  have  it  in 
their  power  to  make  ;  and  whatever  economical  pro- 
visions, the  increase  of  knowledge,  and  of  the  power 
of  Christianity  over  the  hearts  of  men,  may  prompt, 
for  a  more  equitable  division  of  the  proceeds  of  labor 
and  skill,  have  a  sufficient  time  to  be  arranged  into  a 
very  complete  system  before  the  distant  period  shall 
arrive.  If  the  past  is  any  index  to  the  future,  social 
ameliorations  are  destined  to  take  place  within  one 
century,  which  will  change  the  whole  moral  and 
industrial  condition  of  the  world.  Some  of  the  most 
perplexing  and  alarming  economical  problems  are  to 
receive  a  most  favorable  solution.  The  state  of  soci- 
ety and  industry  in  England  is  such,  as  to  cause  her 
to  solve  great  questions  in  advance  for  our  advantage, 
and  to  work  out  those  results  which  will  be  as  beacon 
lights  to  guide  our  industrial  progress,  and  contribute 
to  our  escape  from  those  dangers  and  difficulties  into 
which  civilization  unenlightened  by  experience,  and 


62 

not  accompanied  with  the  advantages  of  our  condi- 
tion, has  brought  her.  What  a  prodigious  amount  of 
study  and  sagacity  has  been  expended  in  England 
on  the  causes  and  cure  of  pauperism ;  and  those  great 
questions  respecting  the  improvement  of  the  state  of 
the  laboring  classes  which  the  exigencies  of  affairs 
have  made  very  practical  and  urgent  there,  but  which 
the  prosperity  and  resources  of  our  country  have 
hitherto  spared  us  the  necessity  of  agitating !  The 
results  of  the  attention  of  distinguished  men  to  this 
most  important  subject  are  as  available  to  us,  as  to 
the  people  for  whose  special  benefit  they  are  design- 
ed, and  will  operate  as  preventives  here,  of  those 
disorders  for  which  they  are  applied  as  remedies  in 
the  mother  country. 

The  great  forces  which  are  to  bring  in  the  new, 
the  last  and  most  perfect  civilization  of  the  species, 
have  but  just  begun  to  move  upon  the  nations.  The 
success  and  effect  with  which  they  operate,  are  an 
omen  of  their  final  and  splendid  triumph  over  the 
world. 

The  oppressed  state  of  the  laboring  classes  in 
European  communities,  is  to  be  traced  in  a  very  con- 
siderable degree  to  the  constant  pressure  of  the  pop- 
ulation on  the  means  of  subsistence.  Dr.  Chalmers 
has  attempted  to  show,  that  the  great  corrective  of 


63 

this  vicious  state  of  society,  lies  in  the  elevation  of 
the  intellectual  and  moral  tastes  of  the  people.  Just 
in  proportion  as  you  raise  man  above  low  and  brutish 
desires — as  you  increase  his  pow^er  of  reflection,  and 
his  forecast — ;just  in  proportion  as  you  give  him  self- 
respect,  a  taste  for  order,  beauty  and  domestic  com- 
fort, moral  habits  and  an  independent  spirit,  you  raise 
an  effectual  barrier  against  an  overflowing  and  de- 
graded population,  by  checking  those  imprudent  con- 
nections and  improvident  dispositions,  which  are  the 
source  of  this  evil.  No  doubt  he  is  mainly  correct  ; 
and  when  you  add  to  these  remedial  agents,  the 
changes  which  will  take  place  in  the  artificial  struc- 
ture of  society  that  has  grown  out  of  the  selfish 
passions  of  men,  and  the  new  institutions  which, 
wisdom  prompted  by  benevolence  will  erect  to  raise 
the  condition  of  the  masses,  you  have  completed  the 
circle  of  causes,  which  are  destined  to  promote  the 
temporal  comfort  and  well  being  of  humanity.  But 
the  grand  instrument  to  accomplish  these  changes 
is  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  applied  to  the  hearts 
of  men.  It  is  the  power  above  all  other  powers, 
and  from  which  they  all  derive,  if  not  their  exis- 
tence, their  efficiency  and  direction.  The  Gospel, 
in  addition  to  its  more  immediate  effects,  is  the 
mainspring,  the  moving  spirit  of  all  that  multiplied 


64 

social  machinery,  which  ivS  to  improve  and  elevate 
the  human  race. 

The  projects,  devices,  comaiunities,  artificial  ar- 
rangements by  which  visionary  and  misguided  men 
propose  to  ameliorate  the  social  state  of  man,  inde- 
pendently of  religion,  are  mere  palliatives  and  ineffec- 
tual remedies.  They  are  the  sheer  quackery  of 
philanthropy.  They  do  not  reach  the  seat  of  the 
disorder.  These  reformers  mistake  both  the  disease 
and  the  remedy  ;  and  conduct  as  absurdly  as  would  a 
physician,  who  should  undertake  to  heal  decaying 
lungs  by  changing  the  fashion  of  the  dress,  or  to 
restore  a  diseased  heart  by  shifting  the  position  of 
the  body. 

May  we  not  hope,  that  all  the  dangers  in  question 
will  be  avoided  by  the  increasing  power  of  Christian- 
ity, in  connection  with  those  improved  arrangements 
in  the  constitution  of  society,  to  which  it  will  more 
or  less  directly  give  birth ;  and  that  the  independent 
spirit  of  thrift,  and  decency  and  foresight,  having 
unrestricted  scope,  which  will  keep  the  rich  as  depen- 
dent on  the  laborer,  as  the  laborer  on  the  rich,  will 
pervade  the  community,  and  harmonize  the  different 
classes  and  beautify  the  land,  when  Owenism  and 
Fourierism  and  Agrarianism,  will  be  ranked  with 
South  Sea  bubbles,  and  Mississippi  schemes  and  the 
witchcraft  of  a  former  generation. 


65 

4.  Another  source  of  danger  to  our  liberties,  in  the 
apprehension  of  many,  is  the  spirit  of  insubordination 
whicli  shows  itself  in  mobs,  and  various  forms  of 
organized,  and  too  successful,  resistance  to  authority 
in  many  parts  of  the  land.  Foreign  enemies  of  re- 
publicanism lay  hold  of  these  outbreaks  of  popular 
violence,  as  arguments  against  the  practicability  of 
self-government  among  men,  and  regard  them  as 
sure  prognostications  of  the  downfall  of  our  institu- 
tions. That  there  have  been  many  serious,  and 
somewhat  alarming,  tumults  in  the  community ;  and 
that  there  has  been,  in  too  many  instances,  a  want  of 
sufficient  promptitude  and  decision  in  putting  them 
down,  is  true. 

But  it  deserves  to  be  enquired,  what  do  these 
affections  of  the  body  politic  indicate  as  to  the  gen- 
eral condition  of  the  system  ?  Are  they  any  thing 
more  than  temporary  and  partial  disorders,  in  a  com- 
munity, which  is  on  the  whole  sound,  and  performs 
its  functions  with  a  healthy  action  ?  Do  the  turbu- 
lence and  violence  of  those,  who  openly  set  law  at 
defiance,  really  any  more  indicate  a  tendency  to  a 
prevailing  spirit  of  anarchy,  than  do  the  crimes  of 
the  inmates  of  our  prisons  and  the  victims  of  the 
gallows,  that  all  the  people  are  becoming  thieves  and 
murderers  ? 

9 


66 

The  character  and  tendenc)'  of  these  tumultuary 
proceedings  are  not  to  be  estimated  by  that  popular 
resistance,  in  other  lands,  to  government  become  op- 
pressive heyond  the  point  ol'  endurance,  which  from 
slight  beginnings,  has  at  length  burst  out  with  a  fury 
that  admitted  of  no  control,  and  swept  all  before  it. 

And  we  are  not  in  the  condition  of  those  countries, 
in  which,  though  a  milder  form  of  authority  exists, 
yet  society  is  divided  horizontally  between  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  governed  ;  and  in  which  a  suffering 
people  feel  that  the  rulers  are  their  natural  enemies 
and  the  source  of  their  misfortunes,  and  that  every 
act  of  successful  resistance  is  a  conquest  over  a  foe, 
and  so  much  reparation  for  injury.  There  is  not, 
there  cannot  be,  a  prevalent  feeling  of  hostility  be- 
tween the  government  and  the  people  in  this  coun- 
try. The  government  is  so  free, — it  so  emanates 
from  the  people,  and  is  so  a  part  of  them — the  gen- 
eral condition  of  the  community  is  so  comfortable,  and 
devoid  of  causes  of  restlessness  and  discontent,  thus 
this  happy  state  of  affairs  is  seen  so  evidently  to 
depend  on  the  protection  of  government  and  the 
existence  of  order,  most  are  so  convinced  that  loss, 
rather  than  gain,  will  accrue  from  revolution,  that 
when  there  is  added  to  these  considerations  the  de- 
gree of  intelligence  and  ascendancy  of  moral  feeling  al- 


67 

ready  adverted  to,  which  prevail,  there  exists  a  strong 
pledge  for  the  wide  prevalence  of  a  quiet  and  obe- 
dient spirit,  and  little  cause  for  that  excessive  alarm, 
which  some  entertain  on  account  of  the  insubordinate 
feeling  that  occasionally  breaks  out  in  the  country. 

In  no  state  has  the  revolutionary  spirit  taken  a 
more  alarming  form  in  recent  times,  than  in  Rhode 
Island;  but  the  rebellion,  there,  has,  we  may  hope, 
been  effectually  crushed  by  the  most  triumphant 
ascendancy  of  the  principles  of  attachment  to  con- 
stitutional law  and  subordination  to  just  authority. 
That  the  affair  mijrht  have  been  attended  with  more 
disastrous  consequences,  if  the  hero  of  the  drama  had 
been  a  Napoleon  or  a  Cromwell,  is  true.  But  he 
is,  happily,  as  the  poet  says,  a  "  Cromwell  guiltless 
of  his  country's  blood."  May  all  insurgents  be  such 
cautious  heroes  and  bloodless  Cromwells ;  and  may 
the  friends  of  "  law  and  order  "  every  where  rally  as 
numerously,  unitedly,  and  vigorously,  to  put  down 
the  revolutionary  proceedings  of  misguided  men,  as 
the  gallant  people  of  our  sister  state. 

1  propose,  before  closing,  to  devote  a  few  remarks  to 
some  of  the  means  of  perfecting  our  free  institutions. 

1.  The  people  need  more  direct  and  systematic 
instruction  in  political  principles.  These  principles 
ought  to  be  studied  in  youth.     They  should  make  a 


68 

prominent  part  of  all  common  school  instruction. 
The  elements  of  republican  government  and  of 
financial  and  political  economy,  ought  to  be  embodied 
in  popular  and  well  digested  treaties,  written  by  able 
and  candid  authors,  and  made  as  indispensable  a 
part  of  the  exercises  of  the  elementary  schools,  as 
common  arithmetic.  It  is  a  frequent  remark,  a  can- 
did confession,  made  by  men  of  all  political  opinions, 
that  the  great  mass  of  the  people  are  honest,  and 
only  need  the  calm  and  unprejudiced  instruction  to 
come  to  a  right  decision  on  all  questions  in  contro- 
versy. That  observation  has  much  truth  in  it.  But 
how  is  the  requisite  knowledge  to  be  acquired  ?  The 
political  press  is  not  all  that  is  needed,  as  important 
as  its  instrumentality  confessedly  is  in  diffusing  infor- 
mation. It  is  too  partizan  in  its  character.  It  is 
devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  the  principles  and  mea- 
sures of  some  one  of  the  great  political  divisions  of 
the  country,  and  having  some  practical  measures  of 
leading  interest  immediately  to  accomplish,  being 
patronized  by  those  who  are  inflamed  by  the  ardor 
of  political  passion,  and  who  will  not  be  satisfied 
with  a  cool,  unprejudiced  logical  discussion  of  the 
questions  in  agitation,  it  fails  to  exhibit  them  in  a 
point  of  view  most  calculated  to  promote  truth  and 
harmonize  the  views  of  the  contending    parties  of 


69 

the  nation.  1  acknowledge,  again,  the  indispensable 
importance,  the  vastly  favorable  influence  on  the 
whole,  of  the  American  press.  I  would  detract 
nothing  from  the  ability,  the  knowledge  of  political 
subjects,  the  devoted  patriotism  of  many  who  fill  the 
editorial  chair ;  and,  as  much  as  there  is,  which  calls 
for  expressions  of  regret  and  censure  in  the  public 
journals  of  the  nation,  )iet  the  tone  in  which  some 
foreign  writers  are  pleased  to  speak  of  them  gener- 
ally, is  exaggerated,  and  unjust  to  their  character. 

There  may  be  a  higher  order  of  talent  and  more 
elaborate  disquisition  in  some  of  the  leading  journals 
of  foreign  nations,  than  in  those  of  the  first  class  in 
our  country ;  but  it  is  very  much  to  be  doubted, 
whether  the  political  press  in  England,  for  instance, 
taking  it  as  a  whole,  is  any  the  less  unsparing  and 
abusive  in  its  attacks  on  public  character,  any  the 
less  disposed  to  intrude  into  domestic  privacies,  and 
scan  with  curious  and  malignant  eye  the  interior  of 
social  life,  than  ours;  and  even,  if  on  the  whole,  it 
should  be  found  on  fair  comparison,  to  be  more  dig- 
nified and  temperate  in  its  tone,  whether  it  can 
claim  any  advantage  over  that  of  this  nation,  as  an 
agent  for  enlightening  and  directing  the  sentiments 
of  the  people.  It  is  a  question  whether  there  would 
be  any  real  gain  by  an  exchange  of  presses,  even  if 


70 

we  could  have  the  benefit  of  those  daily  chronicles 
in  which  the  private  history  of  members  of  the  royal 
and  noble  families  are  detailed  with  the  most  edify- 
ing minuteness ;  in  which  it  is  related  when  and 
how,  her  majesty  rode  out,  and  what  she  said  to  Sir 
Robert  about  the  weather,  and  with  what  party  the 
Duchess  of  Kent  visited  the  last  evening,  and  how 
my  Lord  took  an  airing  in  the  Park,  and  how  all 
the  Dukes  and  Marquises  and  Duchesses  rode  and 
walked  and  dressed  and  talked  and  laughed,  as  if 
this  information  were  as  important  as  that  respecting 
the  condition  of  the  stocks,  the  measures  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  the  state  of  trade. 

But  even  the  best  of  editors  are  in  a  constrained 
position,  and  cannot  carry  out  the  free  and  indepen- 
dent dictates  of  their  own  judgments,  amidst  the 
tempest  of  popular  excitement  which  sweeps  every 
thing  out  of  its  course. 

Besides,  editorial  instructors  are  not  in  the  condi- 
tion of  instructors  in  other  departments.  The  law 
makes  it  imperative,  in  many  parts  of  the  country  at 
least,  that  every  common  school  teacher  shall  be 
subject  to  an  examination  respecting  his  moral  and 
literary  qualifications  for  his  work.  No  teacher,  sup- 
ported by  public  funds,  is  allowed  to  be  entrusted 
with  the  care    of  the   youngest    pupils,   without    a 


71 

license  from  the  proper  authority.  The  practice 
of  many  of  the  great  religious  denominations  of  the 
country,  require  satisfactory  credentials  of  compe- 
tence, before  assuming  the  office  of  public  teachers, 
in  all  those  whom  they  admit  to  their  ecclesiastical 
fellowship.  It  is  true,  that  any  person  may  under- 
take the  instruction  of  the  public,  in  any  form, 
without  restriction,  who  thinks  he  can  safely  calcu- 
late on  an  adequate  support  to  his  enterprise.  But 
the  difference  between  the  cases  is,  that  for  the 
most  important,  influential,  responsible  station  of  a 
conductor  of  the  political  press,  there  is  no  such 
safeguard  provided  against  the  intrusion  of  incom- 
petent persons,  in  any  circumstances,  as  secures  the 
public  against  imposition,  to  a  very  considerable 
extent,  in  other  departments  of  instruction.  There 
is  no  law  of  State,  no  public  regulation  of  any  kind, 
that  subjects  a  candidate  for  editorial  office  to  a  pre- 
vious test  of  his  qualifications.  The  access  to  it 
lies  open  without  check,  without  supervision,  to  every 
adventurer,  who  has  confidence  enough  in  himself 
to  hope  for  success,  and  who  can  command  patron- 
age sufficient  to  sustain  his  operations. 

Public  lectures,  in  the  form  and  circumstances  in 
which  they  have  recently  been  delivered,  are  not  all 
that  the  necessities  of  the  case  require.     This  plan 


72 

of  operating  on  the  popular  mind,  has  been  adopted 
of  late  with  great  effects  of  some  kind,  by  the  politi- 
cal parties,  on  the  eve  of  an  election.  And,  without 
doubt,  the  mass  of  facts  and  arguments  which  have 
been  presented  to  the  people,  in  these  lectures,  and 
which,  through  the  tones  of  eloquent  voices,  and  the 
sympathies  of  large  and  excited  assemblies,  have 
commanded  attention,  that  would  never  be  given  to 
the  printed  form  of  communication,  has  diffused  a 
great  degree  of  light  through  the  community.  But 
these  addresses  being  made  in  the  heat  of  great  po- 
litical contests,  by  persons  deeply  committed  to  their 
respective  parties,  under  the  strongest  temptation  to 
suppress,  distort,  overstate,  and  misstate,  to  assem- 
blies excited  and  inflamed  with  the  most  intense  ar- 
dor of  political  passion,  and  divested,  in  a  great  de- 
gree, of  that  calm  reflection,  and  candid  discrimina- 
tion, which  are  most  favorable  to  the  comprehension 
and  reception  of  truth,  need  the  correction  of  other 
forms  of  instruction. 

I  repeat,  then,  the  schools  must  be  made  a  system 
of  agency  for  imbedding  in  the  youthful  mind  the 
great  elements  of  political  knowledge  and  repub- 
lican liberty.  I  have  already  spoken  of  these  semi- 
naries as  most  important  instruments  of  general 
cultivation.  I  now  refer  to  them  as  capable  of 
being    made  useful    means   of  imbuing   the   young 


73 

with  the  knowledge  requisite  for  the  discharge  of 
civic  duties.  The  pupils  assembled  in  them  must 
receive  a  training  for  the  high  functions  of  their  citi- 
zenship. For  it  is  most  unwise  to  employ  the  great- 
est pains  to  make  them  accomplished  grammarians, 
and  arithmeticians,  and  geographers,  and  send  them 
forth  to  pick  up  their  political  knowledge  from  casual 
and  indiscriminate  reading,  and  every  self-constitut- 
ed instructor,  skilled  or  unskilled,  who  may  happen 
to  gain  their  attention  and  confidence. 

2.    There  needs  to  be  exacted  a  higher  degree  of 
moral  principle  in  public  men. 

The  question  has  been  recently  discussed,  whether 
it  is  right,  under  any  circumstances,  to  give  our  suf- 
frage to  a  candidate  for  public  office,  whose  moral 
character  is  defective.  Now,  without  assuming  the  » 
truth  or  falsity  of  any  charges  which  have  been 
brought  recently  against  candidates  for  political  sta- 
tions, I  do  not  hesitate  to  assert,  that,  when  the 
moral  defect  is  not  of  such  a  kind,  or  of  such  extent, 
as  necessarily  to  corrupt  the  whole  character  of  the 
man,  and  render  it  unsafe  to  commit  to  him  any  civic 
trust,  and  when  the  choice  lies  between  such  an  in- 
dividual, and  one  still  more  liable  to  imputation,  or 
if  without  moral  stain,  one  who  is  incompetent,  or 
whose  political  principles,  however  honestly  enter- 
tained, we  think  disastrous  to  the  interests  of  the 
10 


74 

country,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  about  the 
question. 

But  it  is  said,  that  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  choose 
between  two  moral  evils.  J  deny  that  in  such  a  case 
there  lies  a  choice  between  two  moral  evils.  The 
observation  is  founded  on  the  utterly  and  most  obvi- 
ously false  assumption,  that  in  choosing  a  candidate 
to  public  office,  we  necessarily  choose  or  sanction  all 
that  is  defective  in  his  principles  and  character.  If 
this  principle  is  a  sound  one,  then  we  choose  between 
two  moral  evils  whenever  we  discharge  our  duty  at 
the  polls.  For  where  is  the  man  without  moral  im- 
perfections ?  And  if  we  choose  or  give  counte- 
nance to  whatever  may  be  wrong  in  his  character, 
when  we  elect  him  to  office,  no  matter  how  small 
his  blemishes  may  be,  we  violate  the  principle  as 
really,  as  though  they  were  the  greatest  crimes  under 
heaven.  Religious  opinions  are  as  much  a  part  of 
character  as  conduct.  Of  course,  whenever  an  indi- 
vidual of  one  denomination  casts  his  vote  for  a  can- 
didate who  is  connected  with  another,  he  gives  his 
implied  approval  to  those  theological  tenets,  which  he 
at  the  same  time  regards  not  only  as  unwarranted 
by  scripture,  but  perhaps  as  directly  opposed  to  their 
whole  tenor,  and  of  most  fatal  tendency.  Let  those 
who  adopt  the  principle  under  discussion  be  tried  by 


75 

their  acts,  and  be  consistent  with  their  assumptions. 
But  whilst  it  must  be  conceded  that  individuals 
and  parties  maj  be  so  situated,  as  to  be  under  an 
obligation  to  elect  men  to  office,  whose  moral  habits 
they  cannot  approve,  there  is  great  wrong  in  the 
state  of  the  community  which  creates  this  necessity. 
There  is  not  such  a  dearth  of  men,  able,  experienced, 
and  abundantly  competent  to  discharge  the  functions 
of  the  civic  offices  of  the  nation,  and  whose  private 
characters  are  free  from  stain,  as  to  shut  up  the 
community  to  the  necessity  of  selecting  those  whose 
habits  are  offensive  to  the  tastes  of  the  better  part  of 
the  people.  Let  us  endeavor  to  raise  the  standard 
of  moral,  as  well  as  political,  qualifications  in  the 
candidates  for  political  trusts. 

There  is  much  dispute  about  the  doctrine  of  in- 
structions. Some  constituent  bodies  are  pleased  to 
transmit  instructions  to  their  representatives,  in  re- 
spect to  the  discharge  of  their  respective  duties ;  and 
some  humble  servants  of  the  public  are  very  obedi- 
ent to  the  mandate.  Let  the  principle  of  instruc- 
tion be  enlarged  in  its  application.  Let  candidates 
and  office  holders  be  instructed  in  the  rules  of  mo- 
rality ;  and  whenever,  for  instance,  an  honorable 
member  of  the  national  House  of  Representatives,  has 
engaged  in  a  passionate  and  disgraceful  brawl,  let 


76 

his  constituents  forthwith  send  him  some  wholesome 
instructions,  in  regard  to  the  rules  of  decent  behav- 
ior, and  give  him  to  understand,  that  if  he  really 
thinks  it  a  part  of  his  legislative  duty  to  smite  his 
opponent,  they  expect  him  to  conform  to  his  instruc- 
tions in  morality,  as  well  as  politics,  and  to  surren- 
der his  conscientious  convictions  to  the  sovereign 
will. 

Let  us  rejoice,  whilst  we  must  reprobate  whatever 
of  falsehood,  exaggeration,  and  coarse  and  bitter  vi- 
tuperation, has  disgraced  the  late  political  election, 
in  the  existence  of  such  a  degree  of  religious  feeling 
and  sound  morality  in  the  community,  that  those  po- 
litical agitators,  who  are  reckless  of  principle  them- 
selves, yet  find  it  to  their  account  to  assume  an  air 
of  moral  sensibility,  and  attempt  to  advance  their  ob- 
jects by  assailing  the  real  or  imputed  vices  of  public 
men. 

The  private  lives  of  some  distinguished  public  in- 
dividuals, who  have  rendered  eminent  service  to  the 
country,  or  who  have  lent  their  efficient  aid  to  the 
promotion  of  the  leading  and  favorite  objects  of  a 
political  division  of  the  state,  are  very  liable  to  be  too 
much  disregarded.  The  splendor  of  their  talents  di- 
verts attention  from  the  spots  on  their  character.  The 
gratification  which  their  powerful  eloquence  affords  to 


77 

intellect  and  taste,  the  gratitude  which  is  awakened 
by  the  devotion  and  success  with  which  they  have  ad- 
vocated cherished  interests,  overpower  moral  senti- 
ment. Those  vices  which  would  meet  with  unsparing 
rebuke  and  exclude  from  confidence  in  inferior  per- 
sons, are  tolerated  in  men  of  illustrious  public  merits ; 
they  are  winked  out  of  sight  and  whispered  about  in 
a  pitying,  forgiving  tone,  and  thought  to  belong  to  a 
sort  of  interior  character  which  the  individual  has  a 
right  to  form  as  he  pleases,  and  with  which  the  great 
public  have  but  little  concern.  The  lofty  and  splen- 
did eulogium  which  Mr.  Ames  pronounced  on  Ham- 
ilton immediately  after  his  death,  exhibits  in  a  re- 
markable degree  the  propensities  of  men  of  great 
purity  of  feeling  themselves,  to  judge  of  the  charac- 
ter of  distinguished  public  personages,  by  a  peculiar 
code  of  morality.  "  With  him,"  says  his  panegyrist, 
"  it  was  not  enough  to  be  suspected  ;  his  bosom  would 
have  glowed  like  a  furnace  at  its  own  whispers  of 
reproach ;"  "  Mere  purity  would  have  seemed  to 
him  below  praise ;"  and  this  was  uttered  of  a  man 
who  had  fallen  in  a  duel,  in  which  he  engaged  under 
a  false  sense  of  honor,  against  his  avowed  abhorrence 
of  the  practice,  and  the  strong  moral  convictions  of 
his  own  mind.  One  of  the  unhappy  effects  among 
others,  of  supporting   candidates   for   public  office 


78 

whose  moral  practices  are  defective,  is  the  necessity 
under  which  it  puts  their  friends,  to  make  ingenious 
apologies  for  vice.  Glaring  offences  are  palliated — 
half  defended, — ranked  among  the  minor  faults  of 
human  infirmity ;  single  traits  of  private  virtue  and 
generosity  are  weighed  against  opposite  defects,  and 
made  to  atone  for  gross  outrages  on  moral  principles, 
in  the  general  estimate  of  character.  An  unmingled 
admiration  is  challenged  for  political  consistency, 
long  devotion  to  the  public  service  and  the  authorship 
of  great  and  useful  measures,  at  the  sad  expense  of 
impairing  the  delicacy  of  the  public  conscience,  and 
rendering  it  callous  to  moral  distinctions. 

Let  us  hope,  then,  that  the  severe  and  unsparing 
scrutiny  which  is  applied  to  the  private  habits  of  can- 
didates for  high  offices,  that  the  undisguised  publicity 
with  which  their  social  and  domestic  biography  is 
laid  open  to  the  gaze  of  the  whole  nation — that  the 
increase  of  religious  sentiment,  and  the  consequent 
growing  demand  for  pure  morals  in  public  men,  will 
operate  like  a  second  conscience  on  those  who  have 
entered  the  public  arena,  and  are  glowing  with  aspi- 
rations for  some  of  the  distinguished  prizes  of  repub- 
lican governments. 

But  there  are  political  profligates  whose  turpitude 
equajs  the  grossest  private  immoralities,  men  who 


79 

under  the  pretence  of  the  most  disinterested  patriot- 
ism, and  devotion  to  the  public,  have  no  object  but 
aggrandizement,  and  no  conscience  but  the  popular 
voice.  Thej  are  so  willing,  professedly,  to  serve  the 
public  in  any  way  that  the  beloved  people  desire,  let 
the  people  give  them  the  honor  of  a  private  station, 
and  tell  them  that  whereas  it  was  in  their  heart  to 
sacrifice  their  retirement  and  private  comfort  on  the 
altar  of  public  service,  it  will  be  kindly  accepted,  as 
though  the  sacrifice  were  really  made ;  and  that  as 
they  feel  particular  delicacy  about  laying  on  such 
willing  servants  all  the  burdens  and  anxieties  of  civil 
office,  they  will  permit  them  to  enjoy  their  desired 
quiet,  and  shed  around  them  the  fragrance  of  their 
modest  and  unobtrusive  worth  among  those  dear 
people  to  whom  they  are  knit  in  such  friendship,  and 
whose  intimate  society  must  be  so  grateful  to  their 
affectionate  spirits.  Let  them  receive  comfort  from 
the  thought  that  there  are  some  patriots  of  so  pecu- 
liar a  cast,  that  their  most  useful  oratory  is  silence, 
and  their  best  political  service,  no  service  at  all. 

3.  There  ought  to  be  great  caution  exercised 
about  the  multiplication  of  political  parties. 

An  occasional  breaking  up  of  the  old  organizations, 
and  a  re-casting  of  the  political  elements  is  a  reno- 
vating and  healthful  process.     But  the  greatness  of 


80 

the  exigency  must  justify  it.  There  is  too  strong  a 
propensity  to  frame  new  party  organizations  on  nar- 
row grounds,  to  single  out  one  prominent  point  of 
interest  and  concentrate  the  whole  action  upon  that, 
to  the  comparative  neglect  of  other  questions,  which 
cannot  be  disregarded  with  safety.  It  were  much 
better,  in  many  cases,  to  unite  any  new  question  that 
may  arise,  with  the  principles  of  an  existing  organi- 
zation, than  to  break  away  from  old  and  establised 
connections,  held  together  by  the  recognition  of  doc- 
trines of  acknowledged  importance,  and  form  new 
associations  limited  to  one  measure,  and  composed  of 
those  who  entertain  the  most  opposite  sentiments  in 
other  respects  upon  the  great  interests  of  the  country. 
What  if  the  action  is  slower  ?  What  if  the  zeal  is 
less  exclusive  and  concentrated  ?  What  if  there  is 
less  of  that  close  union  and  impetuous  feeling  which 
bear  down  on  one  point,  as  if  nothing  else  were 
worth  a  thought  in  comparison? 

That  plan  which  looks  calmly  at  all  important 
questions,  which  views  them  as  related  parts  of  a 
great  system — which  aims  to  give  each  one  its  due 
regard  of  attention  without  sacrificing  any,  and  carry 
all  forward  to  one  grand  termination,  is  safest  in  its 
action  and  happiest  in  its  results. 

The  present  disposition  to  form  new  association  is 


81 

not  checked,  we  shall  have  as  many  parties  as  there 
are  fancies  in  the  human  brain ;  and  the  demand  for 
office  bearers  will  be  so  great,  that  there  will  not  be 
suitable  candidates  enough  to  supply  the  market. 
Some  parties  are  reduced  to  such  extremities,  that 
they  begin  to  talk  of  manufacturing  candidates  al- 
ready ;  these  have  to  be  made  to  order  like  an  article 
of  domestic  furniture ;  and  the  machinery  is  so  im- 
perfect that  it  does  not  always  produce  a  valuable 
commodity  after  all. 

An  unfortunate  distinction  is  set  up  between  moral 
and  political  questions,  to  the  undue  disparagement 
of  the  latter;  and  when  a  party  has  assumed  a  moral 
question  as  the  bond  of  its  union  and  the  basis  of 
action — it  so  fills  the  vision,  and  touches  the  deep 
springs  of  action  and  absorbs  the  interest  of  consci- 
entious and  religious  men,  that  they  can  think  of 
nothing  else ;  and  political  questions  in  distinction 
from  moral,  really  of  vast  importance,  are  winked 
out  of  sight  and  viewed  with  contempt.  Just  as  if 
political  were  not  moral  questions  also — -just  as  if 
questions  relating  to  tariffs  and  banks,  have  not 
moral  connections  and  bearings,  as  really,  as  those 
which  respect  intemperance  and  gambling.  The 
great  and  vitally  important  questions,  that  have  been 
in  dispute  between  the  prominent  political  parties  of 
11 


82 

the  country,  have  been  called  mere  questions  of  dol- 
lars and  cents,  and  regarded  as  perfectly  insignificant 
by  some,  compared  with  those  moral  and  transcen- 
dental questions  which  affect  the  freedom  and  rights 
of  man.  But  is  not  the  right  to  dollars  and  cents — 
the  right  to  property,  a  great  human  right  ?  and  as 
really  a  moral  right  as  any  other?  The  right  to 
property  is  so  sacred  and  important  as  to  be  guarded 
by  one  of  the  precepts  of  the  decalogue.  The  ques- 
tion of  currency  and  banking  and  protection,  a  ques- 
tion of  dollars  and  cents !  But  in  this  question  of 
dollars  and  cents  are  involved  the  regulation  of  trade 
and  human  industry  and  the  greater  or  less  supply 
of  that  which  is  necessary  to  satisfy  animal  wants, 
to  promote  human  comfort,  to  support  the  institutions 
of  learning  and  religion ;  and  in  fact  which  affects 
the  physical,  social,  moral  condition  of  the  whole 
country.  Let  those  who  have  arrived  at  such  lofty 
heights,  as  to  esteem  questions  of  money  insignifi- 
cant in  their  character,  try  the  experiment  of  living 
without  it.  Let  them  supply  their  wants  by  moral- 
ity; let  those  electioneering  candidates  who  have 
such  a  contempt  for  dollars,  take  scraps  of  morality 
for  the  emoluments  of  office ;  and  if,  after  a  sufficient 
trial,  they  prove  themselves  to  be  growing  strong, 
and  well  favoured,  we  vnll  forswear  the  paltry  trash 


83 

of  dollars  and  addict  ourselves  to  the  same  spiritual 
fare. 

A  remark  made  by  an  intelligent  individual,  in  the 
late  elections,  illustrates  the  feeling  to  which  I 
have  adverted.  He  was  heard  to  exclaim,  as  he 
saw  the  mighty  masses  moving  tovi^ards  the  point  of 
congregation,  "when  shall  we  see  such  a  gathering  in 
the  cause  of  humanity  ?"  Were  not  those  thousands 
assembled  in  behalf  of  humanity  ?  Is  not  a  wisely 
administered  government  beneficial  to  the  interests 
of  humanity  ?  Is  not  the  choice  of  good  rulers  pro- 
motive of  the  objects  of  humanity  ?  Are  not  the 
great  questions  which  occupy  the  attention  of  Con- 
gress, and  whose  decision  affects  the  well-being  of 
the  whole  nation,  for  ages,  related  to  the  concerns 
of  humanity  ?  Perhaps  we  shall  have  a  new  party 
organized  to  promote  humanity — an  abstract  entity 
— a  refined  product,  distilled  from  human  nature — 
an  essence  so  sublimated  and  etherial,  that  it  will 
dispense  with  government  and  legislation,  and  live 
on  moral  sentiment. 

I  shall  omit  another  topic,  the  importance  of  pro- 
moting the  institutions  of  Christianity,  as  the  great 
perfecting  agent  of  republican  freedom  ;  this  point 
having  received  frequent  notice  in  the  previous  parts 
of  the  discourse,  and  proceed  to  the  salutations  of 
the  occasion. 


84 

His  Excellenc)'  the  Governor  will  permit  us  to  ex- 
press our  satisfaction  in  his  election  to  the  highest 
office  of  the  Commonwealth.  Allow  us  to  say, 
sir,  though  at  the  risk  of  trespassing  on  the  delica- 
cies of  the  occasion,  that  it  is  fit  that  a  community 
so  distinguished  for  the  intelligence  and  repuhlican 
virtue  of  its  citizens,  should  be  represented  in  the 
person  of  its  Chief  Magistrate,  by  one  whose  enlight- 
ened patriotism,  Christian  integrity,  and  devotion  to 
the  social  improvement  of  the  people,  have  earned 
him  a  name  above  that  which  his  honorable  station 
can  confer. 

Sir,  we  think  it  would  be  a  most  auspicious  omen 
for  the  preservation  of  American  liberties,  if  we 
could  see  the  whole  people  make  as  wise  a  choice 
of  the  public  servants  as  that  which  was  made  by 
Massachusetts  in  the  late  election  of  her  highest  ex- 
ecutive officer.  And  we  should  feel  that  all  our 
concerns  were  safe  under  the  management  of  those 
for  whose  ability,  fidelity,  and  disinterestedness  we 
could  have  such  security  as  is  affored  the  citizens  by 
the  name  of  him  to  whom  they  have  committed  the 
highest  civil  trusts  of  the  Commonwealth. 

His  Honor  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  will  grant 
us  the  liberty  of  indulging  in  the  gratified  emotions 
with  which  we  behold   his  accession  to  the  office 


85 

which  he  so  worthily  fills.  The  people,  sir,  have 
given  proof  of  their  capacity  to  appreciate  general 
uprightness  of  character,  civil  wisdom  and  experi- 
ence, and  the  faithful  performance  of  responsible  du- 
ties in  other  spheres  of  public  life. 

In  the  persons  of  the  first  and  second  magistrates, 
of  the  Honorable  Senators,  and  of  the  Representa- 
tives of  the  State,  we  see  those  who  have  been  cho- 
sen to  administer  its  affairs,  and  execute  the  high 
functions  of  the  rulers  of  a  free  people. 

May  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  of  unalloyed  patriotism, 
of  earnest  consecration  to  the  public  duties,  so  per- 
vade their  hearts,  and  direct  all  their  counsels  and 
measures,  that  a  new  illustration  shall  be  given  of 
the  beneficial  operation  of  popular  institutions,  and 
a  new  encouragement  afforded  to  the  hopes  of  those 
whose  anxious  prayers  are  offered  up  for  the  estab- 
lishment and  perpetuation  of  our  liberties  to  the 
latest  generation. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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